liii^fcRjLH-ilori'-'IOD 


BV 
4811 
.M82 
1901 


(i^l DREW  MURRAY 


U'  O 


?^. 

u* 

^ 

5i 

s 

4> 

fH 

^ 

^ 

(^ 
W 

O 

Hj 

^ 

^ 

w 

o 

55 

^ 

^ 

• 

^ 

o 

t> 

H 

^ 

H 

p 

o 

1— I 

?K. 

^ 

^ 

%* 

p^ 

Q  CO 

W 

H  • 

m  ^ 

CO  * 

Ah  rQ 
H 


M 


I^ 

tH 

CTk 

rH 

1 
00 

CM 

00 

tH 

^ 

O 

— 

O^ 

V 

TJ 

r-\ 

^ 

o 

0  o 

CN 

5-1 

C»  TJ 

}-l 

2 

C 

o 

< 

m 

tH 

V 

D^ 

tH 

>^  a 

00 

(C 

■H 

^ 

u  ^ 

}^ 

^^ 

> 

:3 

O 

m  s  ^ 


WORKING 


FOR        ^^rtcTcF  ?:n!!c^ 


m 


'yy 


G  O  ID  !  : ;,   10  1961 

J  SEQUEL   TO   fr J I  TING  07r-&934 -^^ 


BY 


Rev.  ANDREW  MURRAY 

AUTHOR    OF    "THE    MINISTRY    OF    INTERCESSION," 
"ABIDE  IN  CHRIST,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.   Revell  Company^ 

Publishers  of  Evangelical  Literature         / 
1 90 1  / 


Copyright  igoi 

BY 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

(August) 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  object  of  this  little  book  is  first  of 
all  to  remind  all  Christian  workers  of 
the  greatness  and  the  glory  of  the  work 
in  which  God  gives  a  share.  It  is  nothing 
less  than  that  work  of  bringing  men  back 
to  their  God,  at  which  God  finds  His  high- 
est glory  and  blessedness.  As  we  see  that 
it  is  God's  own  work  we  have  to  work  out, 
that  He  works  it  through  us,  that  in  our 
doing  it  His  glory  rests  on  us  and  we  glorify 
Him,  we  shall  count  it  our  joy  to  give  our- 
selves to  live  only  and  wholly  for  it. 

The  aim  of  the  book  at  the  same  time  is 
to  help  those  who  complain,  and  perhaps 
do  not  even  know  to  complain,  that  they 
are  apparently  labouring  in  vain,  to  find 
out  what  may  be  the  cause  of  so  much 
failure.  God's  work  must  be  done  in  God's 
way,  and  in  God's  power.  It  is  spiritual 
work,  to  be  done  by  spiritual  men,  in  the 
power  of  the  Spirit.  The  clearer  our  in- 
sight into,  and  the  more  complete  our  sub- 
mission to,  God's  laws  of  work,  the  surer 
and  the  richer  will  be  our  joy  and  our 
reward  in  it.      . 

Along  with  this  I  have  had  in  view  the 


6  Introduction 

great  number  of  Christians  who  practically 
take  no  real  part  in  the  service  of  their 
Lord.  They  have  never  understood  that  the 
chief  characteristic  of  the  Divine  life  in 
God  and  Christ  is  love  and  its  work  of 
blessing  men.  The  Divine  life  in  us  can  show 
itself  in  no  other  way.  I  have  tried  to  show 
that  it  is  God's  will  that  every  believer  with- 
out exception,  whatever  be  his  position  in 
Hfe,  gives  himself  wholly  to  live  and  work 
for  God. 

I  have  also  written  in  the  hope  that  some, 
who  have  the  training  of  others  in  Christ- 
ian life  and  work,  may  find  thoughts  that 
will  be  of  use  to  them  in  teaching  the  im- 
perative duty,  the  urgent  need,  the  Divine 
blessedness  of  a  life  given  to  God's  service, 
and  to  waken  within  the  consciousness  of 
the  power  that  works  in  them,  even  the 
Spirit  and  power  of  Christ  Himself. 

To  the  great  host  of  workers  in  Church 
and  Chapel,  in  Mission-Hall  and  Open-Air, 
in  Day  and  Sunday  Schools,  in  Endeavour 
Societies,  in  Y.  M.  and  Y.  W.  and  Students' 
Associations,  and  all  the  various  forms  of 
the  ministry  of  love  throughout  the  world, 
I  lovingly  offer  these  meditations,  with  the 
fervent  prayer  that  God,  the  Great  Worker, 
may  make  us  true  Fellow- Workers  with 
Himself.     *  ANDREW  MURRAY. 

Wellington,  February,  1901. 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  Waiting   and    Working.  —  Isa.    xl.    31, 

Ixiv,  4    .        .         .         .         .         .        .11 

II.  Good  Works  the  Light  of  the  World.— 

Matt.  V.   14,  16 16 

III.  Son,  go  Work. — Matt.  xxi.  28       .         .21 

IV.  To  Each  one  his  Work. — i\Iark  xiii.  34    26 
V.  To  Each  one  according  to  his  Ability. 

— Matt.   XXV.   14 31 

VI.  Life    and    Work. — John    v.    34.    ix.    4, 

xvii.  4 36 

VII.  The   Father   abiding   in    Me   doeth   the 

Work. — John  v.  17-20,  xiv.  10  .         .41 
VIII.  Greater  Works. — John  xiv.  12-14  .         .     46 
IX.  Created     in     Christ     Jesus     for     Good 

Works. — Eph.  ii.   10     .         .         .        .51 
X,  Work,  for  it  is  God  which  worketh  in 

you. — Phil.  ii.  12,  13     .         .         .         .     56 
XL  Faith  working  by  Love. — Gal.  v.  6,  13    61 
XII.  Bearing    Fruit    in   every  Good    Work. 

—Col.  i.  10 66 

7 


8  Contents 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XIII.  Always  abounding  in  the  Work  of 

the  Lord.— I  Cor.  xv.  58      .        .71 

XIV.  Abounding     Grace     for     abounding 

Work. — 2  Cor.  ix.  8      .        .        .76 
XV.  The  Work  of  Ministering. — Eph.  iv. 

II,  12 81 

XVI.  According  to  the  Working  of  each 

several  Part. — Eph.  iv.  15,  16       .      86 
XVII.  Women  adorned  with  Good  Works. 

— I  Tim.  ii.  10,  v.  9,  10  .        .        .      90 
XVIII.  Rich  in  Good  Works.— i  Tim.  vi.  18      95 
XIX.  Prepared  unto  every  Good  Work. — 2 

Tim.  ii.  21 lOO 

XX.  Furnished     completely     unto     every 
Good  Work. — 2  Tim.   iii.    16,    17, 

ii.   15 104 

XXI.  Zealous  of  Good  Works.— Tit.  ii.  14     109 
XXII.  Readv    to    every    Good    Work. — Tit. 

iii.  I 113 

XXIII.  Careful  to  maintain  Good  Works. — 

Tit.   iii.    14 118 

XIV.  As  His  Fellow-Workers. — i   Cor.  iii, 

9;    2  Cor.  vi.  I       .        .        .        .     123 
XXV.  According    to    the    Working    of    His 

Power. — Col.  i.  29;    Eph.  iii.  7  .     128 
XXVI.  Labouring  more  abundantly. — i    Cor. 

XV.  10;  2  Cor.  xii.  9,  11        .        .     133 


Contents  9 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XXVII.  A    Doer    that    worketh    shall    be 

blessed  in  Doing. — Jas.  i.  22,  25     138 
XXVIII.  The  Work  of  Soul-Saving.— Jas.  v. 

19 142 

XXIX.  Praying  and  Working. — i  John  v. 

16 147 

XXX.  I  know  thy  Works. — Rev.  ii.,  iii  .     152 
XXXI.  That  God  may  be  Glorified.— i  Pet. 

iv.  II 157 


WORKING  FOR  GOD 

I 

XDClaitinG  an^  IClorl^ing 

*  They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renezv 
their  strength.  Neither  hath  the  eye  seen,  O 
God,  beside  Thee,  which  worketh  for  him  that 
Zi'aiteth  for  Him.' — Isa.  xl.  31,  Ixiv.  4. 

HERE  we  have  two  texts  in  which  the 
connection  between  waiting  and 
working  is  made  clear.  In  the  first  we  see 
that  waiting  brings  the  needed  strength  for 
working — that  it  fits  for  joyful  and  un- 
wearied work.  *  They  that  wait  on  the 
Lord  shall  renew  their  strength;  they  shall 
mount  up  on  eagles'  wings ;  they  shall  run. 
and  not  be  wear\- ;  they  shall  walk,  and  not 
faint.'  Waiting  on  God  has  its  value  in 
this :  it  makes  us  strong  in  work  for  God. 
The  second  reveals  the  secret  of  this 
strength.  '  God  worketh  for  Him  that  wait- 
eth  for  Him.'  The  waiting  on  God  secures 
the  working  of  God  for  us  and  in  us,  out  of 
which  our  work  must   spring.     The  two 

II 


12  Working  for  God 

passages  teach  the  great  lesson,  that  as 
waiting  on  God  hes  at  the  root  of  all  true 
working  for  God,  so  working  for  God  must 
be  the  fruit  of  all  true  waiting  on  Him. 
Our  great  need  is  to  hold  the  two  sides  of 
the  truth  in  perfect  conjunction  and  har- 
mony. 

There  are  some  who  say  they  wait  upon 
God,  but  who  do  not  work  for  Him.  For 
this  there  may  be  various  reasons.  Here 
is  one  who  confounds  true  waiting  on  God 
(in  living  direct  intercourse  with  Him  as 
the  Living  One),  and  the  devotion  to  Him 
of  the  energy  of  the  whole  being,  with  the 
slothful,  helpless  waiting  that  excuses  itself 
from  all  work  until  God,  by  some  special 
impulse,  has  made  work  easy.  Here  is 
another  who  waits  on  God  more  truly,  re- 
garding it  as  one  of  the  highest  exercises 
of  the  Christian  life,  and  yet  has  never  un- 
derstood that  at  the  root  of  all  true  waiting 
there  must  lie  the  surrender  and  the  readi- 
ness to  be  wholly  fitted  for  God's  use  in  the 
service  of  men.  And  here  is  still  another 
who  is  ready  to  work  as  well  as  wait,  but 
is  looking  for  some  great  inflow  of  the 
Spirit's  power  to  enable  him  to  do  mighty 
works,  while  he  forgets  that  as  a  believer 
he  already  has  the  Spirit  of  Christ  dwelling 
in  Him;  that  more  grace  is  only  given  to 
those  who  are  faithful  in  the  little ;  and  that 


Working  for  God  13 

it  is  only  in  working  that  we  can  be  taught 
by  the  Spirit  how  to  do  the  greater  works. 
All  such,  and  all  Christians,  need  to  learn 
that  waiting  has  working  for  its  object,  that 
it  is  only  in  working  that  waiting  can  attain 
its  full  perfection  and  blessedness.  It  is  as 
we  elevate  working  for  God  to  its  true 
place,  as  the  highest  exercise  of  spiritual 
privilege  and  power,  that  the  absolute  need 
and  the  divine  blessing  of  waiting  on  God 
can  be  fully  known. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  some,  there 
are  many,  who  work  for  God,  but  know 
little  of  what  it  is  to  wait  on  Him.  They 
have  been  led  to  take  up  Christian  work, 
under  the  impulse  of  natural  or  religious 
feeling,  at  the  bidding  of  a  pastor  or  a 
society,  with  but  very  little  sense  of  what  a 
holy  thing  it  is  to  work  for  God.  They  do 
not  know  that  God's  zvork  can  only  be  done 
in  God's  strength,  by  God  Himself  working 
in  us.  They  have  never  learnt  that,  just  as 
the  Son  of  God  could  do  nothing  of  Him- 
self, but  that  the  Father  in  Him  did  the 
work,  as  He  lived  in  continual  dependence 
before  Him,  so,  and  much  more,  the  be- 
liever can  do  nothing  but  as  God  works  in 
him.  They  do  not  understand  that  it  is 
only  as  in  utter  weakness  we  depend  upon 
Him,  His  power  can  rest  on  us.  And  so 
they   have   no   conception    of   a    continual 


14  Working  for  God 

waiting  on  God  as  being  one  of  the  first  and 
essential  conditions  of  successful  work. 
And  Christ's  Church  and  the  world  are 
sufferers  to-day,  oh,  so  terribly !  not  only 
because  so  many  of  its  members  are  not 
working  for  God,  but  because  so  much 
working  for  God  is  done  without  waiting 
on  God. 

Among  the  members  of  the  body  of  Christ 
there  is  a  great  diversity  of  gifts  and  opera- 
tions. Some,  who  are  confined  to  their 
homes  by  reason  of  sickness  or  other  duties, 
may  have  more  time  for  waiting  on  God 
than  opportunity  of  direct  working  for 
Him.  Others,  who  are  overpressed  by 
work,  find  it  very  difficult  to  find  time  and 
quiet  for  waiting  on  Him.  These  may  mu- 
tually supply  each  other's  lack.  Let  those 
who  have  time  for  waiting  on  God  defi- 
nitely link  themselves  to  some  who  are 
working.  Let  those  who  are  working  as 
definitely  claim  the  aid  of  those  to  whom 
the  special  ministry  of  waiting  on  God  has 
been  entrusted.  So  will  the  unity  and  the 
health  of  the  body  be  maintained.  So  will 
those  who  wait  know  that  the  outcome  will 
be  power  for  work,  and  those  who  work, 
that  their  only  strength  is  the  grace  ob- 
tained by  waiting.  So  will  God  work  for 
His  Church  that  waits  on  Him. 

Let  us  pray  that  as  we  proceed  in  these 


Working  for  God  15 

meditations  on  working  for  God,  the  Holy 
Spirit  may  show  us  how  sacred  and  how 
urgent  our  calUng  is  to  work,  how  absolute 
our  dependence  is  upon  God's  strength  to 
work  in  us,  how  sure  it  is  that  those  who 
wait  on  Him  shall  renew  their  strength, 
and  how  we  shall  find  waiting  on  God  and 
working  for  God  to  be  indeed  inseparably 
one. 

1.  It  is  only  as  God  works  for  me,  and  in  me, 
that  I  can  work  for  Him. 

2.  All  His  work  for  me  is  through  His  life  in 
me. 

3.  He  will  most  surely  work,  if  I  wait  on  Him. 

4.  All  His  working  for  me,  and  my  waiting  on 
Him,  has  but  one  aim,  to  fit  me  for  His  work  of 
saving  men. 


II 
(Boob  Wiovlis  tbe  Xigbt  ot  tbe  Kllorib 

*  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world.  Let  your  light 
shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  your  good 
works,  and  glorify  your  Father  which  is  in 
heaven.' — Matt.  v.  14,  16. 

ALIGHT  is  always  meant  for  the  use  of 
those  who  are  in  darkness,  that  by  it 
they  may  see.  The  sun  lights  up  the  dark- 
ness of  this  world.  A  lamp  is  hung  in  a 
room  to  give  it  light.  The  Church  of  Christ 
is  the  light  of  men.  The  God  of  this  world 
hath  blinded  their  eyes;  Christ's  disciples 
are  to  shine  into  their  darkness  and  give 
them  light.  As  the  rays  of  light  stream 
forth  from  the  sun  and  scatter  that  light  all 
about,  so  the  good  works  of  believers  are 
the  light  that  streams  out  from  them  to 
conquer  the  surrounding  darkness,  with  its 
ignorance  of  God  and  estrangement  from 
Him. 

What  a  high  and  holy  place  is  thus  given 
to  our  good  works.    What  power  is  attrib- 
uted to  them.     How  much  depends  upon 
them.     They  are  not  only  the  light  and 
16 


Working  for  God  17 

health  and  joy  of  our  own  Ufe,  but  in  every 
deed  the  means  of  bringing  lost  souls  out  of 
darkness  into  God's  marvellous  light.  They 
are  even  more.  They  not  only  bless  men, 
but  they  glorify  God,  in  leading  men  to 
know  Him  as  the  Author  of  the  grace  seen 
in  His  children.  We  propose  studying  the 
teaching  of  Scripture  in  regard  to  good 
works,  and  specially  all  work  done  directly 
for  God  and  His  kingdom.  Let  us  listen  to 
what  these  words  of  the  Master  have  to 
teach  us. 

The  aim  of  good  works. — It  is,  that  God 
may  be  glorified.  You  remember  how  our 
Lord  said  to  the  Father :  '  I  have  glorified 
Thee  on  the  earth,  I  have  finished  the  work 
which  Thou  gavest  Me  to  do.'  We  read 
more  than  once  of  His  miracles,  that  the 
people  glorified  God.  It  was  because  what 
He  had  wrought  was  manifestly  by  a  Di- 
vine power.  It  is  when  our  good  works 
thus  too  are  something  more  than  the  ordi- 
nary virtues  of  refined  men,  and  bear  the 
impress  of  God  upon  them,  that  men  will 
glorify  God.  They  must  be  the  good  works 
of  which  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  the 
embodiment — a  life  of  God's  children,  doing 
more  than  others,  seeking  to  be  perfect  as 
their  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect.  This 
glorifying  of  God  by  men  may  not  mean 
conversion,  but  it  is  a  preparation  for  it 


1 8  Working  for  God 

when  an  impression  favourable  to  God  has 
been  made.  The  works  prepare  the  way 
for  the  words,  and  are  an  evidence  to  the 
reality  of  the  Divine  truth  that  is  taught, 
while  without  them  the  world  is  power- 
less. 

The  whole  world  was  made  for  the  glory 
of  God.  Christ  came  to  redeem  us  from  sin 
and  bring  us  back  to  serve  and  glorify  Him. 
Believers  are  placed  in  the  world  with  this 
one  object,  that  they  may  let  their  light 
shine  in  good  works,  so  as  to  win  men  to 
God.  As  truly  as  the  light  of  the  sun  is 
meant  to  lighten  the  world,  the  good  works 
of  God's  children  are  meant  to  be  the  light 
of  those  who  know  and  love  not  God.  What 
need  that  we  form  a  right  conception  of 
what  good  works  are,  as  bearing  the  mark 
of  something  heavenly  and  divine,  and 
having  a  power  to  compel  the  admission 
that  God  is  in  them. 

The  power  of  good  works. — Of  Christ  it 
is  written :  *  In  Him  was  life,  and  the  life 
was  the  light  of  men.'  The  Divine  life  gave 
out  a  Divine  light.  Of  His  disciples  Christ 
said :  '  If  any  man  follow  Me,  he  shall  not 
walk  in  darkness,  but  have  the  light  of  life.' 
Christ  is  our  hfe  and  light.  When  it  is  said 
to  us,  Let  your  light  shine,  the  deepest 
meaning  is,  let  Christ,  who  dwells  in  you, 
shine.    As  in  the  power  of  His  life  you  do 


Working  for  God  19 

your  good  works,  your  light  shines  out  to  all 
who  see  you.  And  because  Christ  in  you  is 
your  light,  your  works,  however  humble 
and  feeble  they  be,  can  carry  with  them  a 
power  of  Divine  conviction.  The  measure 
of  the  Divine  power  which  works  them  in 
you  will  be  the  measure  of  the  power  work- 
ing in  those  who  see  them.  Give  way,  O 
child  of  God,  to  the  Life  and  Light  of 
Christ  dwelling  in  you,  and  men  will  see 
in  your  good  works  that  for  which  they  will 
glorify  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 

The  urgent  need  of  good  works  in  be- 
lievers.— As  needful  as  that  the  sun  shines 
every  day,  yea,  more  so,  is  it  that  every 
believer  lets  his  light  shine  before  men.  For 
this  we  have  been  created  anew  in  Christ,  to 
hold  forth  the  Word  of  Life,  as  lights  in  the 
world.  Christ  needs  you  urgently,  my 
brother,  to  let  His  light  shine  through  you. 
Perishing  men  around  you  need  your  light, 
if  they  are  to  find  their  way  to  God.  God 
needs  you,  to  let  His  glory  be  seen  through 
you.  As  wholly  as  a  lamp  is  given  up  to 
lighting  a  room,  every  believer  ought  to 
give  himself  up  to  be  the  light  of  a  dark 
world. 

Let  u-s  undertake  the  study  of  what  work- 
ing for  God  is,  and  what  good  works  are  as 
part  of  this,  with  the  desire  to  follow  Christ 
fully,    and    so   to   have   the   light   of   life 


no  Working  for  God 

shining  into  our  hearts  and  Hves,  and  from 
us  on  all  around. 

1.  '  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world!'  The  words 
express  the  calling  of  the  Church  as  a  whole. 
The  fulfilment  of  her  duty  will  depend  upon  the 
faithfulness  with  which  each  individual  member 
loves  and  lives  for  those  around  him. 

2.  In  all  our  efforts  to  waken  the  Church  to 
evangelise  the  world,  our  first  aim  must  be  to 
raise  the  standard  of  life  for  the  individual  be- 
liever of  the  teaching :  As  truly  as  a  candle  only 
exists  with  the  object  of  giving  light  in  the  dark- 
ness, the  one  object  of  your  existence  is  to  be  a 
light  to  men. 

3.  Pray  God  by  His  Holy  Spirit  to  reveal  it  to 
you  that  you  have  nothing  to  live  for  but  to  let 
the  light  and  love  of  the  life  of  God  shine  upon 
souls. 


Ill 
Son,  GO  XKaorft 

*  Son,  go  work  to-day  in  my  vineyard.' — Matt. 
xxi.  28. 

THE  father  had  two  sons.  To  each  he 
gave  the  command  to  go  and  work  in 
his  vineyard.  The  one  went,  the  other  went 
not.  God  has  given  the  command  and  the 
power  to  every  child  of  His  to  work  in  His 
vineyard,  with  the  world  as  the  field.  The 
majority  of  God's  children  are  not  working 
for  Him,  and  the  world  is  perishing. 

Of  all  the  mysteries  that  surround  us  in 
the  world,  is  not  one  of  the  strangest  and 
most  incomprehensible  this — that  after  1800 
years  the  very  name  of  the  Son  of  God 
should  be  unknown  to  the  larger  half  of  the 
human  race. 

Just  consider  what  this  means.  To  re- 
store the  ruin  sin  had  wrought,  God,  the 
Almighty  Creator,  actually  sent  His  own 
Son  to  the  world  to  tell  men  of  His  love, 
and  to  bring  them  His  life  and  salvation. 
When  Christ  made  His  disciples  partakers 
21 


22  » Working  for  God 

of  that  salvation,  and  the  unspeakable  joy  it 
brings,  it  was  with  the  express  understand- 
ing that  they  should  make  it  known  to 
others,  and  so  be  the  lights  of  the  world. 
He  spoke  of  all  who  through  them  should 
believe,  having  the  same  calling.  He  left  the 
world  with  the  distinct  instruction  to  carry 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature,  and  teach  all 
nations  to  observe  all  that  He  had  com- 
manded. He  at  the  same  time  gave  the  defi- 
nite assurance  that  all  power  for  this  work 
was  in  Him,  that  He  v/ould  always  be  with 
His  people,  and  that  by  the  power  of  His 
Holy  Spirit  they  would  be  able  to  witness  to 
Him  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  And  what  do 
we  see  now?  After  1800  years  two-thirds 
of  the  human  race  have  scarce  heard  the 
name  of  Jesus.  And  of  the  other  third,  the 
larger  half  is  still  as  ignorant  as  if  they  had 
never  heard. 

Consider  again  what  this  means.  All 
these  dying  millions,  whether  in  Christen- 
dom or  heathendom,  have  an  interest  in 
Christ  and  His  salvation.  They  have  a  right 
to  Him.  Their  salvation  depends  on  their 
knowing  Him.  He  could  change  their  lives 
from  sin  and  wretchedness  to  holy  obedi- 
ence and  heavenly  joy.  Christ  has  a  right 
to  them.  It  would  make  His  heart  glad  to 
have  them  come  and  be  blessed  in  Him. 
But  they  and  He  are  dependent  on  the  serv- 


Working  for  God  23 

ice  of  His  people  to  be  the  connecting  link 
to  bring  them  and  Him  together.  And  yet 
what  His  people  do  is  as  nothing  to  what 
needs  to  be  done,  to  what  could  be  done,  to 
what  ought  to  be  done. 

Just  consider  yet  once  again  Vv^hat  this 
means.  What  a  revelation  of  the  state  of 
the  Church.  The  great  majority  of  those 
who  are  counted  believers  are  doing  nothing 
towards  making  Christ  known  to  their  fel- 
low-men. Of  the  remainder,  the  majority 
are  doing  so  little,  and  that  little  so  ineffec- 
tually, by  reason  of  the  lack  of  whole- 
hearted devotion,  that  they  can  hardly  be 
said  to  be  giving  themselves  to  their  Lord's 
service.  And  of  the  remaining  portion, 
who  have  given  themselves  and  all  they 
have  to  Christ's  service,  so  many  are  occu- 
pied with  the  hospital  work  of  teaching  the 
sick  and  the  weakly  in  the  Church,  that  the 
strength  left  free  for  aggressive  work,  and 
going  forth  to  conquer  the  world,  is  terribly 
reduced.  And  so,  with  a  finished  salvation, 
and  a  loving  Redeem.er,  and  a  Church  set 
apart  to  carry  life  and  blessing  to  men,  the 
millions  are  still  perishing. 

There  can  be  no  question  to  the  Church 
of  more  intense  and  pressing  importance 
than  this :  What  can  be  done  to  waken  be- 
lievers to  a  sense  of  their  holy  calling,  and 
to  make  them  see  that  to  zvork  for  God,  that 


24  Working  for  God 

to  offer  themselves  as  instruments  through 
whom  God  can  do  His  work,  ought  to  be 
the  one  aim  of  their  life?  The  vain  com- 
plaints that  are  continually  heard  of  a  lack 
of  enthusiasm  for  God's  kingdom  on  the 
part  of  the  great  majority  of  Christians,  the 
vain  attempts  to  waken  anything  like  an 
interest  in  missions  proportionate  to  their 
claim,  or  Christ's  claim,  make  us  feel  that 
nothing  less  is  needed  than  a  revival  that 
shall  be  a  revolution,  and  shall  raise  even 
the  average  Christian  to  an  entirely  new 
type  of  devotion.  No  true  change  can  come 
until  the  truth  is  preached  and  accepted, 
that  the  law  of  the  kingdom  is :  Every  be- 
liever to  live  only  and  zvholly  for  God's 
service  and  zvork. 

The  father  who  called  his  sons  to  go  and 
work  in  his  vineyard  did  not  leave  it  to  their 
choice  to  do  as  much  or  as  little  as  they 
chose.  They  lived  in  his  home,  they  were 
his  children,  he  counted  on  what  they  would 
give  him,  their  time  and  strength.  This 
God  expects  of  His  children.  Until  it  is 
understood  that  each  child  of  God  is  to  give 
His  whole  heart  to  his  Father's  interest  and 
work,  until  it  is  understood  that  every  child 
of  God  is  to  be  a  worker  for  God,  the  evan- 
gelisation of  the  world  cannot  be  accom- 
plished.    Let  every  reader  listen,  and  the 


Working  for  God  25 

Father  will  say  to  him  personally :  *  Son,  go 
work  in  My  vineyard.' 

1.  Why  is  it  that  stirring  appeals  on  behalf  of 
missions  often  have  so  little  permanent  result? 
Because  the  command  with  its  motives  is  brought 
to  men  who  have  not  learned  that  absolute  devo- 
tion and  immediate  obedience  to  their  Lord  is  of 
the  essence  of  true  salvation. 

2.  If  it  is  once  seen,  and  confessed,  that  the 
lack  of  interest  in  missions  is  the  token  of  a  low 
and  sickly  Christian  life,  all  who  plead  for  mis- 
sions will  make  it  their  first  aim  to  proclaim  the 
calling  of  every  believer  to  live  wholly  for  God. 
Every  missionary  meeting  will  be  a  consecration 
meeting  to  seek  and  surrender  to  the  Holy 
Spirit's  power. 

^  3.  The  average  standard  of  holiness  and  devo- 
tion cannot  be  higher  abroad  than  at  home,  or  in 
the  Church  at  large  than  in  individual  believers. 
4.  Every  one  cannot  go  abroad,  or  give  his 
whole  time  to  direct  work;  but  everyone,  what- 
ever his  calling  or  circumstances,  can  give  his 
whole  heart  to  live  for  souls  and  the  spread  of  the 
kingdom. 


IV 
TLo  }£acb  one  bis  Mori? 

'  As  a  man  sojourning  in  another  country, 
having  given  authority  to  his  servants,  to  each  one 
his  work,^  commanded  the  porter  also  to  watch.' — 
Mark  xiii.  34. 

WHAT  I  have  said  in  a  previous  chap- 
ter of  the  failure  of  the  Church  to 
do  her  Master's  work,  or  even  clearly  to  in- 
sist upon  the  duty  of  its  being  done  by  every 
member  has  often  led  me  to  ask  the  ques- 
tion, What  must  be  done  to  arouse  the 
Church  to  a  right  sense  of  her  calling  ?  This 
little  book  is  an  attempt  to  give  the  answer. 
Working  for  God  must  take  a  very  different 
and  much  more  definite  place  in  our  teach- 
ing and  training  of  Christ's  disciples  than 
it  has  done. 

In  studying  the  question  I  have  been  very 
much  helped  by  the  life  and  writings  of  a 
great  educationist.  The  opening  sentence  of 
the  preface  to  his  biography  tells  us :  '  Ed- 
ward Thring  was  unquestionably  the  most 
original  and  striking  figure  in  the  school- 
master world  of  his  time  in  England/  He 
26 


Working  for  God  27 

himself  attributes  his  own  power  and  suc- 
cess to  the  prominence  he  gave  to  a  few 
simple  principles,  and  the  faithfulness  with 
v/hich  he  carried  them  out  at  any  sacrifice. 
I  have  found  them  as  suggestive  in  regard 
to  the  work  of  preaching  as  of  teaching,  and 
to  state  them  will  help  to  make  plain  some 
of  the  chief  lessons  this  book  is  meant  to 
teach. 

The  root-principle  that  distinguished  his 
teaching  from  what  was  current  at  the  time 
was  this :  Every  boy  in  school,  the  dullest, 
must  have  the  same  attention  as  the  clev- 
erest. At  Eton,  where  he  had  been  edu- 
cated, and  had  come  out  First,  he  had  seen 
the  evil  of  the  opposite  system.  The  school 
kept  up  its  name  by  training  a  number  of 
men  for  the  highest  prizes,  while  the  major- 
ity were  neglected.  He  maintained  that  this 
was  dishonest :  there  could  be  no  truth  in  a 
school  which  did  not  care  for  all  alike. 
Every  boy  had  some  gift ;  every  boy  needed 
special  attention ;  every  boy  could,  with  care 
and  patience,  be  fitted  to  know  and  fulfil  his 
mission  in  life. 

Apply  this  to  the  Church.  Every  be- 
liever, the  feeblest  as  much  as  the  strongest, 
has  the  calling  to  live  and  work  for  the 
kingdom  of  his  Lord.  Every  believer  has 
equally  a  claim  on  the  grace  and  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  according  to  his  gifts,  to 


28  Working  for  God 

fit  him  for  his  work.  And  every  believer 
has  a  right  to  be  taught  and  helped  by  the 
Church  for  the  service  our  Lord  expects 
of  him.  It  is  when  this  truth,  every  be- 
liever, the  feeblest,  to  be  trained  as  a  worker 
for  God,  gets  its  true  place,  that  there  can 
be  any  thought  of  the  Church  fulfilling  its 
mission.  Not  one  can  be  missed,  because 
the  Master  gave  to  every  one  his  work. 

Another  of  Thring's  principles  was  this : 
It  is  a  law  of  nature  that  work  is  pleasure. 
See  to  make  it  voluntary  and  not  compul- 
sory. Do  not  lead  the  boys  blindfold.  Show 
them  why  they  have  to  work,  what  its  value 
will  be,  what  interest  can  be  awakened  in  it, 
what  pleasure  may  be  found  in  it.  A  little 
time  stolen,  as  he  says,  for  that  purpose, 
from  the  ordinary  teaching,  will  be  more 
than  compensated  for  by  the  spirit  which 
will  be  thrown  into  the  work. 

What  a  field  is  opened  out  here  for  the 
preacher  of  the  gospel  in  the  charge  he  has 
of  Christ's  disciples.  To  unfold  before 
them  the  greatness,  the  glory,  the  Divine 
blessedness  of  the  work  to  be  done.  To 
show  its  value  in  the  carrying  out  of  God's 
will,  and  gaining  His  approval;  in  our  be- 
coming the  benefactors  and  saviours  of  the 
perishing;  in  developing  that  spiritual  vig- 
our, that  nobility  of  character,  that  spirit  of 


Working  for  God  29 

self-sacrifice  which  leads  to  the  true  bear- 
ing of  Christ's  image. 

A  third  truth  Thring  insisted  on  specially 
was  the  need  of  inspiring  the  belief  in  the 
possibility,  yea,  the  assurance  of  success  in 
gaining  the  object  of  pursuit.  That  object 
is  not  much  knowledge;  not  every  boy  can 
attain  to  this.  The  drawing  out  and  culti- 
vation of  the  power  there  is  in  himself — this 
is  for  every  boy — and  this  alone  is  true  edu- 
cation. As  a  learner's  powers  of  observa- 
tion grow  under  true  guidance  and  teach- 
ing, and  he  finds  within  himself  a  source  of 
power  and  pleasure  he  never  knew  before, 
he  feels  a  new  self  beginning  to  live,  and 
the  world  around  him  gets  a  new  meaning. 
*  He  becomes  conscious  of  an  infinity  of 
unsuspected  glory  in  the  midst  of  which 
we  go  about  our  daily  tasks,  becomes  lord 
of  an  endless  kingdom  full  of  light  and 
pleasure  and  power.' 

If  this  be  the  law  and  blessing  of  a  true 
education,  what  Hght  is  shed  on  the  calling 
of  all  teachers  and  leaders  in  Christ's 
Church !  The  know  ye  nots  of  Scripture — 
that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God — that  Christ  is 
in  you — that  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelleth  in  you 
— acquire  a  new  meaning.  It  tells  us 
that  the  one  thing  that  needs  to  be  wakened 
in  the  hearts  of  Christians  is  the  faith  *  in 


30  Working  for  God 

the  power  that  worketh  in  us.'  As  one 
comes  to  see  the  worth  and  the  glory  of  the 
work  to  be  done,  as  one  beheves  in  the  pos- 
sibihty  of  his,  too,  being  able  to  do  that 
work  well;  as  one  learns  to  trust  a  Divine 
energy,  the  very  power  and  spirit  of  God 
working  in  him ;  *  he  will,  in  the  fullest 
sense  become  conscious  of  a  new  life,  with 
an  infinity  of  unsuspected  glory  in  the  midst 
of  which  we  go  about  our  daily  task,  and 
become  lord  of  an  endless  kingdom  full  of 
light  and  pleasure  and  power.'  This  is  the 
royal  life  to  which  God  has  called  all  His 
people.  The  true  Christian  is  one  who 
knows  God's  power  working  in  himself, 
and  finds  it  his  true  joy  to  have  the  very 
life  of  God  flow  into  him.,  and  through  him, 
and  out  from  him  to  those  around. 

1.  We  must  learn  to  believe  in  the  power  of 
littles — of  the  value  of  every  individual  believer. 
As  men  are  saved  one  by  one,  they  must  be 
trained  one  by  one  for  work. 

2.  We  must  believe  that  work  for  Christ  can 
become  as  natural,  as  much  an  attraction  and  a 
pleasure  in  the  spiritual  as  in  the  natural  world. 

3.  We  must  believe  and  teach  that  everv  be- 
liever can  become  an  effective  worker  in  his 
sphere.  Are  you  seeking  to  be  filled  with  love  to 
souls  ? 


Zo  Bacb  accorMng  to  bis  Hblllt^ 

'  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as  when  a  man, 
going  into  another  country,  called  his  own  serv- 
ants, and  delivered  them  his  goods.  And  unto 
one  he  gave  five  talents,  to  another  two,  to  an- 
other one ;  to  each  according  to  his  several 
ability.' — Matt.  xxv.  14. 

IN  the  parable  of  the  talents  we  have  a 
most  instructive  summary  of  our  Lord's 
teaching  in  regard  to  the  work  He  has 
given  to  His  servants  to  do.  He  tells  us  of 
His  going  to  heaven  and  leaving  His  work 
on  earth  to  the  care  of  His  Church ;  of  His 
giving  every  one  something  to  do,  however 
different  the  gifts  might  be ;  of  His  expect- 
ing to  get  back  His  money  wich  interest ;  of 
the  failure  of  him  who  had  received  least ; 
and  of  what  it  was  that  led  to  that  terrible 
neglect. 

'  He  called  his  ozun  servants  and  delivered 
unto  them  his  goods,  and  zvent  on  his  jour- 
ney' This  is  literally  what  our  Lord  did. 
He  went  to  heaven,  leaving  His  work  with 
all  His  goods  to  the  care  of  His  Church. 

31 


32  Working  for  God 

His  goods  were,  the  riches  of  His  grace,  the 
spiritual  blessings  in  heavenly  places,  His 
word  and  Spirit,  with  all  the  power  of  His 
life  on  the  throne  of  God, — all  these  He 
gave  in  trust  to  His  servants,  to  be  used  by 
them  in  carrying  out  His  work  on  earth. 
The  work  He  had  begun  they  were  to  prose- 
cute. As  some  rich  merchant  leaves  Cape 
Town  to  reside  in  London,  while  his  busi- 
ness is  carried  on  by  trustworthy  servants, 
our  Lord  took  His  people  into  partnership 
with  Himself,  and  entrusted  His  work  on 
earth  entirely  to  their  care.  Through  their 
neglect  it  would  suffer j  their  diligence 
would  be  His  enrichment.  Here  we  have 
the  true  root-principle  of  Christian  service; 
Christ  has  made  Himself  dependent  for  the 
extension  of  His  kingdom  on  the  faithful- 
ness of  His  people. 

'  Unto  one  he  gave  Hve  talents,  to  another 
two,  to  another  one ;  to  each  according  to  his 
several  ability/  Though  there  was  a  dif- 
ference in  the  measure,  every  one  received 
a  portion  of  the  master's  goods.  It  is  in 
connection  with  the  service  we  are  to  render 
to  each  other  that  we  read  of  *  the  grace 
given  to  each  of  us  according  to  the  meas- 
ure of  the  gift  of  Christ.'  This  truth,  that 
every  believer  without  exception  has  been 
set  apart  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  work 
of  winning  the  zvorld  for  Christ,  has  almost 


Working  for  God  ^;^ 

been  lost  sight  of.  Christ  was  first  a  son, 
then  a  servant.  Every  beUever  is  first  a 
child  of  God,  then  a  servant.  It  is  the  high- 
est honour  of  a  son  to  be  a  servant,  to  have 
the  father's  work  entrusted  to  him.  Neither 
the  home  nor  the  foreign  missionary  work 
of  the  Church  will  ever  be  done  right  until 
every  believer  feels  that  the  one  object  of 
his  being  in  the  world  is  to  work  for  the 
kingdom.  The  first  duty  of  the  servants  in 
the  parable  was  to  spend  their  life  in  caring 
for  their  master's  interests. 

'  After  a  long  time  the  lord  of  those  serv- 
ants Cometh  and  maketh  a  reckoning  with 
them.'  Christ  keeps  watch  over  the  work 
He  has  left  to  be  done  on  earth ;  His  king- 
dom and  glory  depend  upon  it.  He  will  not 
only  hold  reckoning  when  He  comes  again 
to  judge,  but  comes  unceasingly  to  inquire  of 
His  servants  as  to  their  welfare  and  work. 
He  comes  to  approve  and  encourage,  to  cor- 
rect and  warn.  By  His  word  and  Spirit  He 
asks  us  to  say  whether  we  are  using  our 
talents  diligently,  and,  as  His  devoted  serv- 
ants, living  only  and  entirely  for  His  work. 
Some  He  finds  labouring  diligently,  and  to 
them  He  frequently  says :  '  Enter  into  the 
joy  of  thy  Lord.'  Others  He  sees  discour- 
aged, and  them  He  inspires  with  new  hope. 
Some  He  finds  working  in  their  own 
strength ;  these  He  reproves.     Still  others 


34  Working  for  God 

He  finds  sleeping  or  hiding  their  talent;  to 
such  His  voice  speaks  in  solemn  warning: 
'  from  him  that  hath  shall  be  taken  away 
even  that  he  hath.'  Christ's  heart  is  in  His 
work;  every  day  He  watches  over  it  with 
the  intensest  interest ;  let  us  not  disappoint 
Him  nor  deceive  ourselves. 

'Lord,  I  zvas  afraid  and  hid  thy  talent  in 
the  earth/  That  the  man  of  the  one  talent 
should  have  been  the  one  to  fail,  and  to  be 
so  severely  punished  is  a  lesson  of  deep 
solemnity.  It  calls  the  Church  to  beware 
lest,  by  neglecting  to  teach  the  feebler  ones, 
the  one-talent  men,  that  their  service,  too,  is 
needed,  she  allow  them  to  let  their  gifts  lie 
unused.  In  teaching  the  great  truth  that 
every  branch  is  to  bear  fruit,  special  stress 
must  be  laid  on  the  danger  of  thinking  that 
this  can  only  be  expected  of  the  strong  and 
advanced  Christian.  When  Truth  reigns  in 
a  school,  the  most  backward  pupil  has  the 
same  attention  as  the  more  clever.  Care 
must  be  taken  that  the  feeblest  Christians 
receive  special  training,  so  that  they,  too, 
may  joyfully  have  their  share  in  the  service 
of  their  Lord  and  all  the  blessedness  it 
brings.  If  Christ's  work  is  to  be  done,  not 
one  can  be  missed. 

'Lord,  I  knew  that  thou  art  a  hard  man, 
and  I  was  afraid.'  Wrong  thoughts  of 
God,  looking  upon  His  service  as  that  of  a 


Working  for  God  35 

hard  master,  are  one  chief  cause  of  failure 
in  service.  If  the  Church  is  indeed  to  care 
for  the  feeble  ones,  for  the  one-talent  serv- 
ants, who  are  apt  to  be  discouraged  by  rea- 
son of  their  conscious  weakness,  we  must 
teach  them  Vv'hat  God  says  of  the  sufficiency 
of  grace  and  the  certainty  of  success.  They 
must  learn  to  believe  that  the  pozver  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  zvithin  than  fits  them  for  the 
zvork  to  zi'hich  God  has  called  them.  They 
must  learn  to  understand  that  God  Himself 
will  strengthen  them  with  might  by  His 
Spirit  in  the  inner  man.  They  must  be 
taught  that  work  is  joy  and  health  and 
strength.  Unbelief  lies  at  the  root  of  sloth. 
Faith  opens  the  eyes  to  see  the  blessedness 
of  God's  service,  the  sufficiency  of  the 
strength  provided,  and  the  rich  reward.  Let 
the  Church  awake  to  her  calling  to  train  the 
feeblest  of  her  members  to  know  that  Christ 
counts  upon  every  redeemed  one  to  live 
wholly  for  His  work.  This  alone  is  true 
Christianity,  is  full  salvation. 


VI 

%iU  an^  movw 

*  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  Me, 
and  to  accomplish  His  zvork.  I  must  work  the 
works  of  Him  that  sent  Me.  I  have  glorified 
Thee  on  the  earth;  I  have  finished  the  work  Thou 
gavest  Me  to  do.  And  now,  O  Father,  glorify  Me 
with  Thyself.' — John  v.  34,  ix.  4,  xvii.  4. 

i"\l/"ORK  is  the  highest  form  of  exist- 
VV  ence.'  The  highest  manifestation 
of  the  Divine  Being  is  in  His  work.  Read 
carefully  again  the  words  of  our  Blessed 
Lord  at  the  head  of  the  chapter,  and  see 
what  Divine  glory  there  is  in  His  work.  In 
His  work  Christ  showed  forth  His  own 
glory  and  that  of  the  Father.  It  was  be- 
cause of  the  work  He  had  done,  and  because 
in  it  He  had  glorified  the  Father,  that  He 
claimed  to  share  the  glory  of  the  Father  in 
heaven.  The  greater  works  He  was  to  do 
in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  the  disciples  was, 
that  the  Father  might  be  glorified  in  the 
Son.  Work  is  indeed  the  highest  form  of 
existence,  the  highest  manifestation  of  the 
Divine  glory  in  the  Father  and  in  His  Son. 

36 


Working  for  God  37 

What  is  true  of  God  is  true  of  His 
creature.  Life  is  movement,  is  action,  and 
reveals  itself  in  what  it  accomplishes.  The 
bodily  life,  the  intellectual,  the  moral,  the 
spiritual  life — individual,  social,  national 
life — each  of  these  is  judged  of  by  its  work. 
The  character  and  quality  of  the  work  de- 
pends on  the  hfe:  as  the  Hfe,  so  the  w^ork. 
And,  on  the  other  hand  the  life  depends  on 
the  work ;  without  this  there  can  be  no  full 
development  and  manifestation  and  per- 
fecting of  the  life :  as  the  work,  so  the  life. 

This  is  specially  true  of  the  spiritual  life 
— the  life  of  the  Spirit  in  us.  There  may  be 
a  great  deal  of  religious  work  with  its  exter- 
nal activities,  the  outcome  of  human  will 
and  effort,  with  but  little  true  worth  and 
power,  because  the  Divine  life  is  feeble. 
When  the  believer  does  not  know  that 
Christ  is  living  in  him,  does  not  know  the 
Spirit  and  power  of  God  working  in  him, 
there  may  be  much  earnestness  and  dili- 
gence, with  little  that  lasts  for  eternity. 
There  may,  on  the  contrary,  be  much  exter- 
nal weakness  and  apparent  failure,  and  yet 
results  that  prove  that  the  life  is  indeed  of 
God. 

The  work  depends  upon  the  life.  And 
the  life  depends  on  the  work  for  its  growth 
and  perfection.  All  life  has  a  destiny;  it 
cannot    accompHsh    its    purpose    without 


38  Working  for  God 

work ;  life  is  perfected  by  work.  The  high- 
est manifestation  of  its  hidden  nature  and 
power  comes  out  in  its  work.  And  so  work 
is  the  great  factor  by  which  the  hidden 
beauty  and  the  Divine  possibiUties  of  the 
Christian  Hfe  are  brought  out.  Not  only  for 
the  sake  of  what  it  accomplishes  through 
the  believer  as  God's  instrument,  but  what 
it  effects  on  himself,  work  must  in  the  child 
of  God  take  the  same  place  it  has  in  God 
Himself.  As  in  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
so  with  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in  us, 
work  is  the  highest  manifestation  of  life. 

"VVork  must  be  restored  to  its  right  place 
in  God's  scheme  of  the  Christian  life  as  in 
very  deed  the  highest  form  of  existence. 
To  be  the  intelligent  willing  channel  of  the 
power  of  God,  to  be  capable  of  working  the 
very  work  of  God,  to  be  animated  by  the 
Divine  Spirit  of  love,  and  in  that  to  be  al- 
lov/ed  to  work  life  and  blessing  to  men;  it 
is  this  gives  nobility  to  life,  because  it  is  for 
this  we  are  created  in  the  image  of  God. 
As  God  never  for  a  moment  ceases  to  work 
His  work  of  love  and  blessing  in  us  and 
through  us,  so  our  working  out  what  He 
works  in  us  is  our  highest  proof  of  being 
created  anew  in  His  likeness. 

If  God's  purpose  with  the  perfection  of 
the  individual  beHever,  with  the  appoint- 
ment of  His  Church  as  the  body  of  Christ 


Working  for  God  39 

to  carry  on  His  work  of  winning  back  a  re- 
bellious world  to  His  allegiance  and  love, 
is  to  be  carried  out,  working  for  God  must 
have  much  greater  prominence  given  to  it 
as  the  true  glory  of  our  Christian  calling. 
Every  believer  must  be  taught  that,  as  work 
is  the  only  perfect  manifestation,  and  there- 
fore the  perfection  of  Hfe  in  God  and 
throughout  the  v/orld,  so  our  work  is  to  be 
our  highest  glory.  Shall  it  be  so  in  our 
lives  ? 

If  this  is  to  come,  we  must  remember 
two  things.  The  one  is  that  it  can  only 
come  by  beginning  to  Vv^ork.  Those  who 
have  not  had  their  attention  specially  di- 
rected to  it  cannot  reahse  how  great  the 
temptation  is  to  make  work  a  matter  of 
thought  and  prayer  and  purpose,  without  its 
really  being  done.  It  is  easier  to  hear  than 
to  think,  easier  to  think  than  to  speak,  easier 
to  speak  than  to  act.  We  may  listen  and 
accept  and  admire  God's  will,  and  in  our 
prayer  profess  our  willingness  to  do, — and 
yet  not  actually  do.  Let  us,  with  such  meas- 
ure of  grace  as  we  have,  and  much  prayer 
for  more,  take  up  our  calling  as  God's  work- 
ing men,  and  do  good  hard  work  for  Him. 
Doing  is  the  best  teacher.  If  you  want  to 
know  how  to  do  a  thing,  begin  and  do  it. 

Then  you  will  feel  the  need  of  the  second 
thing  I  Vv'ish  to  mention,  and  be  made  capa- 


40  Working  for  God 

ble  of  understanding  it, — that  there  is  suffi- 
cient grace  in  Christ  for  all  the  work  you 
have  to  do.  You  will  see  with  ever-increas- 
ing gladness  how  He  the  Head  works  all  in 
you  the  member,  and  how  work  for  God 
may  become  your  closest  and  fullest  fellow- 
ship with  Christ,  your  highest  participation 
in  the  power  of  His  risen  and  glorified  life. 

1.  Life  and  work:  beware  of  separating  them. 
The  more  work  you  have,  the  more  your  work 
appears  a  failure.  The  more  unfit  you  feel  for 
work,  take  all  the  more  time  and  care  to  have 
your  inner  life  renewed  in  close  fellowship  with 
God. 

2.  Christ  liveth  in  me — is  the  secret  of  joy  and 
hope,  and  also  of  power  for  work.  Care  for  the 
life,  the  life  will  care  for  the  work.  '  Be  filled 
tvith  the  Spirit.' 


VII 

Ube  ifatber  ablblna  In  /n>e  boetb  tbe 
mork 

'Jesus  answered  thtm,  My  Father  worketh  even 
until  now,  and  I  work.' — John  v.  17-20. 

'  Believest  thou  not  that  I  am  in  the  Father, 
and  the  Father  in  Me?  the  words  that  I  speak  I 
speak  not  of  Myself :  but  the  Father  abiding  in 
Me  doeth  the  work.' — John  xiv.  10. 

T  ESUS  CHRIST  became  man  that  He 
<J  might  show  us  what  a  true  man  is, 
how  God  meant  to  live  and  work  in  man, 
and  how  man  may  find  his  life  and  do  his 
work  in  God.  In  words  like  those  above, 
our  Lord  opens  up  the  inner  mystery  of  His 
life,  and  discovers  to  us  the  nature  and  the 
deepest  secret  of  His  working.  He  did  not 
come  to  the  world  to  work  instead  of  the 
Father;  the  Father  was  ever  working — 
*  worketh  even  until  now.'  Christ's  work 
was  the  fruit,  the  earthly  reflection  of  the 
Heavenly  Father  working.  And  it  was  not 
as  if  Christ  merely  saw  and  copied  what  the 
Father  willed  or  did  :  '  the  Father  abiding  in 
Me  doeth  the  work.'     Christ  did  all  His 

41 


42  Working  for  God 

work  in  the  power  of  the  Father  dweUing 
and  working  in  Him.  So  complete  and  real 
was  His  dependence  on  the  Father,  that,  in 
expounding  it  to  the  Jews,  He  used  the 
strong  expressions  (v.  19,  30)  :  '  The  Son 
can  do  nothing  of  Himself,  but  what  He 
seeth  the  Father  doing  ' ;  *  I  can  do  nothing 
of  Myself.'  As  literally  as  what  He  said  is 
true  of  us,  '  Apart  from  Me  ye  can  do  noth- 
ing,' is  it  true  of  Him  too.  '  The  Father 
abiding  in  Me  doeth  the  work.' 

Jesus  Christ  became  man  that  He  might 
show  us  what  true  man  is,  what  the  true 
relation  between  man  and  God,  what  the 
true  way  of  serving  God  and  doing  His 
work.  When  we  are  made  new  creatures  in 
Christ  Jesus,  the  life  we  receive  is  the  very 
life  that  v/as  and  is  in  Christ,  and  it  is  only 
by  studying  His  life  on  earth  that  we  know 
how  we  are  to  live.  '  As  I  live  because  of 
the  Father,  so  he  that  eateth  Me  shall  live 
because  of  Me.'  His  dependence  on  the 
Father  is  the  law  of  our  dependence  on 
Him  and  on  the  Father  through  Him. 

Christ  counted  it  no  humiliation  to  be 
able  to  do  nothing  of  Himself,  to  be  always 
and  absolutely  dependent  on  the  Father. 
He  counted  it  His  highest  glory,  because 
so  all  His  works  were  the  works  of  the  all- 
glorious  God  in  Him.  When  shall  we  un- 
derstand that  to  wait  on  God,  to  bow  before 


Working  for  God  43 

Him  in  perfect  helplessness,  and  let  Him 
work  all  in  us,  is  our  true  nobility,  and  the 
secret  of  the  highest  activity?  This  alone 
is  the  true  Son-life,  the  true  life  of  every 
child  of  God.  As  this  life  is  known  and 
maintained,  the  power  for  work  will  grow, 
because  the  soul  is  in  the  attitude  in  which 
God  can  work  in  us,  as  the  God  who 
'  worketh  for  him  that  waiteth  on  Him/ 
It  is  the  ignorance  or  neglect  of  the  great 
truths,  that  there  can  be  no  true  work  for 
God  but  as  God  zvorks  it  in  its,  and  that 
God  cannot  work  in  us  fully  but  as  zve  live 
in  absolute  dependence  on  Him,  that  is  the 
explanation  of  the  universal  complaint  of 
so  much  Christian  activity  with  so  little 
real  result.  The  revival  which  many  are 
longing  and  praying  for  must  begin  with 
this :  the  return  of  Christian  ministers  and 
w^orkers  to  their  true  place  before  God — in 
Christ  and  like  Christ,  one  of  complete  de- 
pendence and  continual  waiting  on  God  to 
work  in  them. 

Let  me  invite  all  workers,  young  and  old, 
successful  or  disappointed,  full  of  hope  or 
full  of  fear,  to  come  and  learn  from  our 
Lord  Jesus  the  secret  of  true  work  for  God. 
*  My  Father  worketh,  and  I  work ; '  *  The 
Father  abiding  in  Me  doeth  the  works.' 
Divine  Fatherhood  means  that  God  is  all, 
and  gives  all,  and  works  all.    Divine  Son- 


44  Working  for  God 

ship  means  continual  dependence  on  the 
Father,  and  the  reception,  moment  by  mo- 
ment, of  all  the  strength  needed  for  His 
Work,  Try  to  grasp  the  great  truth  that 
because  '  it  is  God  who  worketh  all  in  all,' 
your  one  need  is,,  in  deep  humility  and 
weakness,  to  wait  for  and  to  trust  in  His 
working.  Learn  from  this  that  God  can 
only  work  in  us  as  He  dwells  in  us.  *  The 
Father  abiding  in  Me  doeth  the  works.' 
Cultivate  the  holy  sense  of  God's  continual 
nearness  and  presence,  of  your  being  His 
temple,  and  of  His  dwelling  in  you.  Offer 
yourself  for  Him  to  work  in  you  all  His 
good  pleasure.  You  will  find  that  work, 
instead  of  being  a  hindrance,  can  become 
your  greatest  incentive  to  a  life  of  fellow- 
ship and  childlike  dependence. 

At  first  it  may  appear  as  if  the  waiting 
for  God  to  work  will  keep  you  back  from 
your  work.  It  may  indeed — but  only  to 
bring  the  greater  blessing,  v/hen  you  have 
learned  the  lesson  of  faith,  that  counts  on 
His  working  even  when  you  do  not  feel  it. 
You  may  have  to  do  your  work  in  weakness 
and  fear  and  much  trembling.  You  will 
know  that  it  is  all,  that  the  excellency  of  the 
power  may  be  of  God  and  not  of  us.  As 
you  know  yourself  better  and  God  better, 
you  will  be  content  that  it  should  ever  be — 
'His  strengfth  made  perfect  in  our  weakness. 


Working  for  God  45 

1.  '  The  Father  abiding  in  Me  doeth  the  work.' 
There  is  the  same  law  for  the  Head  and  the 
member,  for  Christ  and  the  behever.  '  It  is  the 
same  God  that  worketh  all  in  all.'  , 

2.  The  Father  not  only  worked  in  the  Son 
when  He  was  on  earth,  but  now,  too,  that  He  is  in 
heaven.  It  is  as  we  believe  hi  Christ  in  the 
Father's  luorking  in  Him,  that  we  shall  do  the 
greater  works,     oee  John  xiv.  10-12. 

3.  It  is  as  the  indwelling  God,  the  Father 
abiding  in  us,  that  God  works  ia  us.  Let  the  life 
of  God  in  the  soul  be  clear,  the  work  will  be 
sure. 

4.  Pray  much  for  grace  to  say,  in  the  name  of 
Jesus,  '  The  Father  abiding  in  me  doeth  the 
work.' 


VIII 
Greater  Merits 

*  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believ- 
eth  on  Me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also; 
and  greater  works  shall  he  do;  because  I  go  unto 
the  Father.  And  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  My 
name,  that  will  I  do,  that  the  Father  may  be  glori- 
fied in  the  Son.  If  ye  shall  ask  anything  in  My 
name,  that  will  I  do.' — John  xiv.  12-14. 

IN  the  words  (ver.  10),  'The  Father 
abiding  in  Me  doeth  the  works,'  Christ 
had  revealed  the  secret  of  His  and  of  all 
Divine  service — man  yielding  himself  for 
God  to  dwell  and  to  work  in  him.  When 
Christ  now  promises,  *  He  that  believeth  on 
Me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also,' 
the  law  of  the  Divine  inworking  remains 
unchanged.  In  us,  as  much  as  in  Him, 
one  might  even  say  a  thousand  times  more 
than  with  Him,  it  must  still  ever  be:  The 
Father  in  me  doeth  the  works.  With  Christ 
and  with  us,  it  is  *  the  same  God  who 
worketh  all  in  all' 

How  this  is  to  be,  is  taught  us  in  the 
words,  '  He  that  believeth  on  Me.'     That 

46 


Working  for  God  47 

does  not  only  mean,  for  salvation,  as  a 
Saviour  from  sin.  But  much  more.  Christ 
had  just  said  (vers.  10,  11),  'Believe  Me 
that  /  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in 
Me:  the  Father  abiding  in  Me  doeth  the 
works.'  We  need  to  beUeve  in  Christ  as 
Him  in  and  through  whom  the  Father  un- 
ceasingly works.  To  believe  in  Christ  is 
to  receive  Him  into  the  heart.  When  we 
see  the  Father's  working  inseparably  con- 
nected with  Christ,  we  knovv^  that  to  believe 
in  Christ,  and  receive  Him  into  the  heart,  is 
to  receive  the  Father  dwelling  in  Him  and 
working  through  Him.  The  works  His 
disciples  are  to  do  cannot  possibly  be 
done  in  any  other  way  than  His  own  are 
done. 

This  becomes  still  more  clear  from  what 
our  Lord  adds :  *  And  greater  works  shall 
he  do ;  because  I  go  unto  the  Father.'  What 
the  greater  vvorks  are,  is  evident.  The  dis- 
ciples at  Pentecost  with  three  thousand 
baptized,  and  multitudes  added  to  the  Lord ; 
Philip  at  Samaria,  with  the  whole  city  filled 
with  joy ;  the  men  of  Cyprus  and  Cyrene, 
and,  later  on,  Barnabas  at  Antioch,  with 
much  people  added  to  the  Lord ;  Paul  in  his 
travels,  and  a  countless  host  of  Christ's 
servants  down  to  our  day,  have,  in  the  in- 
gathering of  souls,  done  what  the  blaster 
condescendingly  calls  greater  works  than 


48  Working  for  God 

He  did  in  the  days  of  His  humiliation  and 
weakness. 

The  reason  why  it  should  be  so  our  Lord 
makes  plain,  '  Because  I  go  to  the  Father/ 
When  He  entered  the  glory  of  the  Father, 
all  power  in  heaven  and  on  earth  was  given 
to  Him  as  our  Redeemer.  In  a  way  more 
glorious  than  ever  the  Father  was  to  work 
through  Him ;  and  He  then  to  work 
through  His  disciples.  Even  as  His  own 
work  on  earth,  in  the  days  of  the  weakness 
of  the  flesh,  had  been  in  a  power  received 
from  the  Father  in  heaven,  so  His  people, 
in  their  weakness,  would  do  works  like  His, 
and  greater  works  in  the  same  way, 
through  a  power  received  from  heaven. 
The  law  of  the  Divine  working  is  un- 
changeable: God's  work  can  only  be  done 
by  God  Himself.  It  is  as  we  see  this  in 
Christ,  and  receive  Him  in  this  capacity,  as 
the  One  in  and  through  whom  God  works 
all,  and  so  yield  ourselves  wholly  to  the 
Father  working  in  Him  and  in  us,  that  we 
shall  do  greater  works  than  He  did. 

The  words  that  follow  bring  out  still 
more  strongly  the  great  truths  we  have 
been  learning,  that  it  is  our  Lord  Himself 
who  will  work  all  in  us,  even  as  the  Father 
did  in  Him,  and  that  our  posture  is  to  be 
exactly  what  His  was,  one  of  entire  recep- 
tivity   and    dependence.      '  Greater    works 


Working  for  God  49 

shall  he  do,  because  I  go  to  the  Father,  and 
whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in  ^,Iy  name,  that 
will  I  do.'  Christ  connects  the  greater 
works  the  believer  is  to  do,  with  the  promise 
that  He  zvill  do  whatever  the  believer  asks. 
Prayer  in  the  name  of  Jesus  will  be  the 
expression  of  that  dependence  that  waits  on 
Him  for  His  working,  to  which  He  gives 
the  promise :  Whatsoever  ye  ask,  I  will  do, 
in  you  and  through  you.  And  when  He 
adds,  *  that  the  Father  may  be  glorified  in 
the  Son,'  He  reminds  us  how  He  had  glori- 
fied the  Father,  by  yielding  to  Him  as 
Father,  to  work  all  His  work  in  Himself 
as  Son.  In  heaven  Christ  would  still 
glorify  the  Father,  by  receiving  from  the 
Father  the  power,  and  working  in  His  dis- 
ciples what  the  Father  would.  The  crea- 
ture, as  the  Son  Himself  can  give  the 
Father  no  higher  glory  than  yielding  to 
Him  to  work  all.  The  believer  can  glorify 
the  Father  in  no  other  way  than  the  Son, 
by  an  absolute  and  unceasing  dependence 
on  the  Son,  in  whom  the  Father  works,  to 
communicate  and  work  in  us  all  the 
Father's  work.  '  li  ye  shall  ask  anything 
in  My  name,  that  will  I  do'  and  so  ye  shall 
do  greater  works. 

Let  every  believer  strive  to  learn  the  one 
blessed  lesson.  I  am  to  do  the  works  I 
have  seen  Christ  doing;  I  may  even  do 


50  Working  for  God 

greater  works  as  I  yield  myself  to  Christ 
exalted  on  the  throne,  in  a  power  He  had 
not  on  earth ;  I  may  count  on  Him  working 
in  me  according  to  that  power.  My  one 
need  is  the  spirit  of  dependence  and  wait- 
ing, and  prayer  and  faith,  that  Christ  abid- 
ing in  me  will  do  the  works,  even  what- 
soever I  ask. 

1.  How  was  Christ  able  to  work  the  works  of 
God  ?  By  God  abiding  in  Him !  How  can  I  do 
the  works  of  Christ  ?    By  Christ  abiding  in  me ! 

2.  How  can  I  do  greater  works  than  Christ? 
By  believing,  not  only  in  Christ,  the  Incarnate  and 
Crucified,  but  Christ  triumphant  on  the  throne. 

3.  In  work  everything  depends,  O  believer,  on 
the  life,  the  inner  life,  the  Divine  life.  Pray  to 
realise  that  work  is  vain  except  as  it  is  in  '  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit '  dwelling  in  thee. 


IX 


Createb  in  Cbrist  Jesus  tor  Goob 
Morfts 

'  By  grace  have  ye  been  saved  through  faith ; 
not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should  glory.  For 
we  are  His  workmanship,  created  in  Christ  Jesus 
for  good  works,  which  God  afore  prepared  that 
we  should  walk  in  them.' — Eph.  ii.  lo. 

WE  have  been  saved,  not  of  works,  but 
for  good  works.  How  vast  the  dif- 
ference. How  essential  the  apprehension  of 
that  difference  to  the  health  of  the  Christian 
life.  Not  of  works  which  we  have  done, 
as  the  source  whence  salvation  comes,  have 
we  been  saved.  And  yet  for  good  works, 
as  the  fruit  and  outcome  of  salvation,  as 
part  of  God's  work  in  us,  the  one  thing 
for  which  we  have  been  created  anew.  As 
worthless  as  are  our  works  in  procuring 
salvation,  so  infinite  is  their  worth  as  that 
for  which  God  has  created  and  prepared  us. 
Let  us  seek  to  hold  these  two  truths  in 
their  fulness  of  spiritual  meaning.  The 
deeper  our  conviction  that  we  have  been 
saved,    not   of    works,    but    of   grace,    the 

51 


52  Working  for  God 

stronger  the  proof  we  should  give  that  we 
have  indeed  been  saved  for  good  works. 

*  Not  of  works,  for  ye  are  God's  work- 
manship.' If  works  could  have  saved  us, 
there  was  no  need  for  our  redemption.  Be- 
cause our  works  were  all  sinful  and  vain, 
God  undertook  to  make  us  anew — we  are 
now  His  workmanship,  and  all  the  good 
works  we  do  are  His  workmanship  too. 
*  His  workmanship,  created  us  anew  in 
Christ  Jesus.'  So  complete  had  been  the 
ruin  of  sin,  that  God  had  to  do  the  work  of 
creation  over  again  in  Christ  Jesus.  In 
Him,  and  specially  in  His  resurrection 
from  the  dead,  He  created  us  anew,  after 
His  own  image,  into  the  likeness  of  the  life 
which  Christ  had  lived.  In  the  power  of 
that  hfe  and  resurrection,  we  are  able,  we 
are  perfectly  fitted,  for  doing  good  works. 
As  the  eye,  because  it  was  created  for  the 
light,  is  most  perfectly  adapted  for  its 
work,  as  the  vine-branch,  because  it  was 
created  to  bear  grapes,  does  its  work  so 
naturally,  we  who  have  been  created  in 
Christ  Jesus  for  good  work,  may  rest 
assured  that  a  Divine  capacity  for  good 
works  is  the  very  law  of  our  being.  If  we 
but  know  and  believe  in  this  our  destiny,  if 
we  but  live  our  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  as  we 
were  new  created  in  Him,  we  can,  we  will, 
be  fruitful  unto  every  good  work. 


Working  for  God  53 

'  Created  for  good  works,  which  God 
hath  afore  prepared  that  we  should  walk  in 
them.'  We  have  been  prepared  for  the 
works,  and  the  works  prepared  for  us.  To 
understand  this,  think  of  how  God  fore- 
ordained His  servants  of  old,  Moses  and 
Joshua,  Samuel  and  David,  Peter  and  Paul, 
for  the  work  He  had  for  them,  and  fore- 
ordained equally  the  works  for  them.  The 
feeblest  member  of  the  body  is  equally 
cared  for  by  the  Head  as  the  most  hon- 
oured. The  Father  has  prepared  for  the 
humblest  of  His  children  their  works  as 
much  as  for  those  who  are  counted  chief. 
For  every  child  God  has  a  life-plan,  with 
work  apportioned  just  according  to  the 
power,  and  grace  provided  just  according  to 
the  work.  And  so  just  as  strong  and  clear 
as  the  teaching,  salvation  not  of  ivorks,  is 
its  blessed  counterpart,  salvation  for  good 
works,  because  God  created  us  for  them, 
and  even  prepared  them  for  us. 

And  so  the  Scripture  confirms  the  double 
lesson  this  little  book  desires  to  bring  you. 
The  one,  that  good  works  are  God's  object 
in  the  new  life  He  has  given  you,  and 
ought  therefore  to  be  as  distinctly  your 
object.  As  every  human  being  was  created 
for  work,  and  endowed  with  the  needful 
powers,  and  can  only  live  out  a  true  and 
healthy  life  by  working,  so  every  believer 


54  Working  for  God 

exists  to  do  good  works,  that  in  them  his 
Hfe  may  be  perfected,  his  fellowmen  may 
be  blessed,  his  Father  in  heaven  be  glorified. 
We  educate  all  our  children  with  the 
thought  that  they  must  have  their  work  in 
the  world:  when  shall  the  Church  learn 
that  its  great  work  is  to  train  every  believer 
to  take  his  share  in  God's  great  work,  and 
to  abound  in  the  good  works  for  which  he 
was  created?  Let  each  of  us  seek  to  take 
in  the  deep  spiritual  truth  of  the  message, 
'  Created  in  Christ  Jesus  for  good  zvorks, 
which  God  hath  afore  prepared '  for  each 
one,  and  which  are  waiting  for  him  to  take 
up  and  fulfil. 

The  other  lesson — that  waiting  on  God  is 
the  one  great  thing  needed  on  our  part  if 
we  would  do  the  good  works  God  has  pre- 
pared for  us.  Let  us  take  up  into  our 
hearts  these  words  in  their  Divine  mean- 
ing: We  are  God's  workmanship.  Not 
by  one  act  in  the  past,  but  in  a  continuous 
operation.  We  are  created  for  good  works, 
as  the  great  means  for  glorifying  God. 
The  good  works  are  prepared  for  each  of 
us,  that  we  might  walk  in  them.  Sur- 
render to  and  dependence  upon  God's  work- 
ing is  our  one  need.  Let  us  consider  how 
our  new  creation  for  good  works  is  all  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  abiding  in  Him,  believing 
on  Him,  and  looking  for  His  strength  alone 


6. 


Working  for  God  55 

will  become  the  habit  of  our  soul.  Created 
for  good  works!  will  reveal  to  us  at  once 
the  Divine  command  and  the  sufficient 
power  to  live  a  life  in  good  works. 

Let  us  pray  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  work 
the  word  into  the  very  depths  of  our  con- 
sciousness :  Created  in  Christ  Jesus  for 
good  zuorks!  In  its  light  we  shall  learn 
what  a  glorious  destiny,  what  an  infinite 
obligation,  what  a  perfect  capacity  is  ours. 

1.  Our  creation  in  Adam  was  for  good  works. 
It  resulted  in  entire  faikire.  Our  new  creation 
in  Christ  is  for  good  works  again.  But  with  this 
difference :  perfect  provision  has  been  made  for 
securing  them. 

2.  Created  by  God  for  good  works;  created  by- 
God  in  Christ  Jesus;  the  good  works  prepared 
by  God  for  us — let  us  pray  for  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  show  us  and  impart  to  us  all  this  means. 

3.  Let  the  life  in  fellowship  with  God  be  true; 
the  power  for  the  work  will  be  sure.  As  the  life, 
so  the  work. 


Morft,  for  (3oD  works  In  ]8ou 

'  Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling;  for  it  is  God  which  zuorketh  in  you 
both  to  will  and  to  work,  for  His  good  pleasure.' 
— Phil.  ii.  12,  13. 

IN  our  last  chapter  we  saw  what  salvation 
is.  It  is  our  being  God's  workman- 
ship, created  in  Christ  Jesus  for  good 
works.  It  concludes,  as  one  of  its  chief  and 
essential  elements,  all  that  treasury  of  good 
works  which  God  afore  prepared  that  we 
should  walk  in  them.  In  the  light  of  this 
thought  we  get  the  true  and  full  meaning 
of  to-day's  text.  Work  out  your  own  sal- 
vation, such  as  God  has  meant  it  to  be,  a 
walk  in  all  the  good  works  which  God  has 
prepared  for  you.  Study  to  know  exactly 
what  the  salvation  is  God  has  prepared  for 
you,  all  that  He  has  meant  and  made  it 
possible  for  you  to  be,  and  work  it  out  with 
fear  and  trembling.  Let  the  greatness  of 
this  Divine  and  most  holy  life,  hidden  in 
Christ,  your  own  absolute  impotence,  and 

56 


Working  for  God  57 

the  terrible  dangers  and  temptations  be- 
setting you,  make  you  work  in  fear  and 
trembling. 

And  yet,  that  fear  need  never  become 
unbelief,  nor  that  trembling  discourage- 
ment, for — it  is  God  which  worketh  in  you. 
Here  is  the  secret  of  a  power  that  is  abso- 
lutely sufficient  for  everything  we  have  to 
do,  of  a  perfect  assurance  that  we  can  do 
all  that  God  really  means  us  to  do.  God 
works  in  us  both  to  will  and  to  work.  First, 
to  will;  He  gives  the  insight  into  what  is 
to  be  done,  the  desire  that  makes  the  work 
pleasure,  the  firm  purpose  of  the  will  that 
masters  the  whole  being,  and  makes  it 
ready  and  eager  for  action.  And  then  to 
work.  He  does  not  work  to  will,  and  then 
leave  us  unaided  to  work  it  out  ourselves. 
The  will  may  have  seen  and  accepted  the 
work,  and  yet  the  power  be  lacking  to  per- 
form. The  renewed  will  of  Romans  vii. 
delighted  in  God's  law,  and  yet  the  man 
was  impotent  to  do,  until  in  Romans  viii. 
2-4,  by  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  Hfe  in  Christ 
Jesus,  he  was  set  free  from  the  law  of  sin 
and  death ;  then  first  could  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  law  be  fulfilled  in  him,  as  one 
who  walked  not  after  the  flesh  but  after 
the  Spirit. 

One  great  cause  of  the  failure  of  be- 
lievers  in   their   work  is  that,   when   they 


58  Working  for  God 

think  that  God  has  given  them  to  will,  they 
undertake  to  zvork  in  the  strength  of  that 
will.  They  have  never  learnt  the  lesson, 
that  because  God  has  created  us  in  Christ 
Jesus  for  good  works,  and  has  afore  pre- 
pared the  good  works  in  which  we  are  to 
walk,  He  must  needs,  and  will  most  cer- 
tainly, Himself  work  them  all  in  us.  They 
have  never  listened  long  to  the  voice  speak- 
ing, '  It  is  God  which  worketh  in  you.' 

We  have  here  to  do  with  one  of  the 
deepest,  most  spiritual,  and  most  precious 
truths  of  Scripture — the  unceasing  opera- 
tion of  Almighty  God  in  our  heart  and  Hfe. 
In  virtue  of  the  very  nature  of  God,  as  a 
Spiritual  Being  not  confined  to  any  place, 
but  everywhere  present,  there  can  be  no 
spiritual  life  but  as  it  is  upheld  by  His 
personal  indwelling. 

Not  without  the  deepest  reason  does 
Scripture  say,  He  worketh  all  in  all.  Not 
only  of  Him  are  all  things  as  their  first 
beginning,  and  to  Him  as  their  end,  but  also 
through  Him,  who  alone  maintains  them. 

In  the  man  Christ  Jesus  the  working  of 
the  Father  in  Him  was  the  source  of  all  He 
did.  In  the  new  man,  created  in  Christ 
Jesus,  the  unceasing  dependence  on  the 
Father  is  our  highest  privilege,  our  true 
nobility.     This   is   indeed   fellowship   with 


Working  for  God  59 

God:  God  Himself  working  in  us  to  will 
and  to  do. 

Let  us  seek  to  learn  the  true  secret  of 
working  for  God.  It  is  not,  as  many  think, 
that  we  do  our  best,  and  then  leave  God  to 
do  the  rest.  By  no  means.  But  it  is  this, 
that  we  know  that  God's  working  His  sal- 
vation in  us  is  the  secret  of  our  working 
it  out.  That  salvation  includes  every  work 
we  have  to  do.  The  faith  of  God's  work- 
ing in  us  is  the  measure  of  our  fitness  to 
work  effectively.  The  promises,  '  Accord- 
ing to  your  faith  be  it  unto  you,'  '  All  things 
are  possible  to  him  that  believeth,'  have 
their  full  application  here.  The  deeper  our 
faith  in  God's  zvorking  in  us,  the  more 
freely  will  the  power  of  God  work  in  us, 
the  more  true  and  fruitful  will  our  work  be. 

Perhaps  some  Sunday-school  worker 
reads  this.  Let  me  ask.  Have  you  really 
believed  that  your  only  power  to  do  God's 
work  is  as  one  who  has  been  created  in 
Christ  Jesus  for  good  works,  as  one  in 
v/hom  God  Himself  works  to  will  and  to 
work?  Have  you  yielded  yourself  to  wait 
for  that  working?  Do  you  work  because 
you  know  God  works  in  you?  Say  not 
that  these  thoughts  are  too  high.  The 
work  of  leading  young  souls  to  Christ  is 
too  high  for  us  indeed,  but  if  we  live  as 


6o  Working  for  God 

little  children,  in  believing  that  God  will 
work  all  in  us.  we  shall  do  His  work  in  His 
strength.  Pray  much  to  learn  and  practise 
the  lesson  in  all  you  do:  Work,  for  God 
worketh  in  you. 

1.  I  think  we  begin  to  feel  that  the  spiritual 
apprehension  of  this  great  truth,  '  God  worketh 
in  you,'  is  what  all  workers  greatly  need. 

2.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  mighty  power  of 
God.  dwelling  in  behevers  for  life  and  for  work. 
Beseech  God  to  shovv-  it  you,  that  in  all  our  serv- 
ice our  first  care  must  be  the  daily  renewing  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

3.  Obey  the  command  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Believe  in  His  indwelling.  Wait  for  His 
teaching.  Yield  to  His  leading.  Pray  for  His 
mighty  working.     Live  in  the  Spirit. 

4.  What  the  mighty  power  of  God  works  in  us 
we  are  surely  able  to  do.  Only  give  way  to  the 
power  working  in  you. 


XI 

faith  \vov\nm  b^  Xo\>e 

*  In  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth 
anything,  nor  uncircumcision ;  but  faith  working 
through  love.  Through  love  be  servants  one  to 
another ;  for  the  whole  law  is  fulfilled  in  this : 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.' — Gal. 
V.  6,  13. 

IN  Christ  Jesus  no  external  privilege 
avails.  The  Jew  might  boast  of  his 
circumcision,  the  token  of  God's  covenant. 
The  Gentile  might  boast  of  his  uncircum- 
cision, with  an  entrance  into  the  Kingdom 
free  from  the  Jewish  law.  Neither  availed 
aught  in  the  Kingdom  of  heaven — nothing 
but,  as  we  have  it  in  vi.  15,  a  new  creature, 
in  which  old  things  are  passed  away  and  all 
things  become  new.  Or,  as  we  have  it  in 
.our  text — as  a  description  of  the  life  of  the 
new  creature — nothing  but  faith  working 
by  love,  that  makes  us  in  love  serve  one 
another. 

What  a  perfect  description  of  the  new 
life.  First  you  have  faith,  as  the  root, 
planted  and  rooted  in  Christ  Jesus.     Then 

61 


62  Working  for  God 

as  its  aim  you  have  works,  as  the  fruit. 
And  then  between  the  two,  as  the  tree, 
growing  downwards  into  the  root  and  bear- 
ing the  fruit  upward,  you  have  love,  with 
the  Hfe-sap  flowing  through  it  by  which 
the  root  brings  forth  the  fruit.  Of  faith 
we  need  not  speak  here.  We  have  seen 
how  beHeving  on  Jesus  does  the  greater 
works ;  hov/  the  faith  in  the  new  creation, 
and  in  God  working  in  us,  is  the  secret  of 
all  work.  Nor  need  we  speak  here  of 
Vv^orks — our  whole  book  aims  at  securing 
for  them  the  place  in  every  heart  and  life 
that  thev  have  in  God's  heart  and  in  His 
Word. 

We  have  here  to  study  specially  the 
great  truth  that  all  work  is  to  be  love,  that 
faith  cannot  do  its  work  but  through  love, 
that  no  works  can  have  any  worth  but  as 
they  come  of  love,  and  that  love  alone  is  the 
sufficient  strength  for  all  the  work  we  have 
to  do. 

The  pozver  for  zvork  is  love. — It  was  love 
that  moved  God  to  all  His  work  in  creation 
and  redemption.  It  was  love  that  enabled 
Christ  as  man  to  work  and  to  suffer  as  He 
did.  It  is  love  that  can  inspire  us  with  the 
power  of  a  self-sacrifice  that  seeks  not  its 
own,  but  is  ready  to  live  and  die  for  others. 
It  is  love  that  gives  us  the  patience  that 
refuses  to  give  up  the  unthankful  or  the 


Working  for  God  6^ 

hardened.  It  is  love  that  reaches  and  over- 
comes the  most  hopeless.  Both  m  ourselves 
and  those  for  whom  we  labour  love  is  the 
power  for  work.  Let  us  love  as  Christ 
loved  us. 

The  poziJcr  for  love  is  faith. — Faith  roots 
its  life  in  the  life  of  Christ  Jesus,  which 
is  all  love.  Faith  knows,  even  when  we 
cannot  realise  fully,  the  wonderful  gift  that 
has  been  given  into  our  heart  in  the  Holy 
Spirit  shedding  abroad  God's  love  there.  A 
spring  in  the  earth  may  often  be  hidden 
or  stopped  up.  Until  it  is  opened  the  foun- 
tain cannot  flow  out.  Faith  knows  that 
there  is  a  fountain  of  love  within  that  can 
spring  up  into  eternal  life,  that  can  flow  out 
as  rivers  of  living  waters.  It  assures  us 
that  we  can  love,  that  we  have  a  Divine 
power  to  love  v-ithin  us,  as  an  unalienable 
endowment  of  our  new  nature. 

The  power  to  exercise  and  show  love  is 
work. — There  is  no  such  thing  as  power  in 
the  abstract;  it  only  acts  as  it  is  exercised. 
Power  in  repose  cannot  be  found'  or  felt. 
This  is  specially  true  of  the  Christian 
graces,  hidden  as  they  are  amid  the  weak- 
ness of  our  human  nature.  It  is  only  by 
doing  that  you  know  that  you  have ;  a  grace 
m.ust  be  acted  ere  we  can  rejoice  in  its 
possession.  This  is  the  unspeakable 
blessedness  of  work,  and  makes  it  so  essen- 


64  Working  for  God 

tial  to  a  healthy  Christian  life  that  it 
wakens  up  and  strengthens  love,  and  makes 
us  partakers  of  its  joy. 

Faith  working  by  love. — In  Christ  Jesus 
nothing  avails  but  this.  Workers  for  God ! 
believe  this.  Practise  it.  Thank  God  much 
for  the  fountain  of  eternal  love  opened 
within  you.  Pray  fervently  and  frequently 
that  God  may  strengthen  you  with  might 
by  the  power  of  His  Spirit  in  your  inner 
man,  so  that,  with  Christ  dwelling  in  you, 
you  may  be  rooted  and  grounded  in  love. 
And  live  then,  your  daily  life,  in  your  own 
home,  in  all  your  intercourse  with  men,  in 
all  your  work,  as  a  life  of  Divine  love. 
The  ways  of  love  are  so  gentle  and 
heavenly,  you  may  not  learn  them  all  at 
once.  But  be  of  good  courage,  only  believe 
in  the  power  that  worketh  in  you,  and  yield 
yourself  to  the  work  of  love :  it  will  surely 
gain  the  victory. 

Faith  working  by  love. — In  Christ  Jesus 
nothing  ayails  but  this.  Let  me  press  home 
this  message,  too,  on  those  who  have  never 
yet  or  only  just  begun  to  think  of  working 
for  God.     Come  and  listen. 

You  owe  everything  to  God's  love.  The 
salvation  you  have  received  is  all  love. 
God's  one  desire  is  to  Ull  you  ivith  His  love. 
For  His  ovv'n  satisfaction,  for  your  own 
happiness,  for  the  saving  of  men.    Now,  I 


Working  for  God  65 

ask  you — Will  you  not  accept  God's  won- 
derful offer  to  be  Med  zi'ith  His  love?  Oh ! 
come  and  give  up  heart  and  life  to  the  joy 
and  the  service  of  His  love.  Believe  that 
the  fountain  of  love  is  within  you;  it  will 
begin  to  flow  as  you  make  a  channel  for  it 
by  deeds  of  love.  Whatever  work  for  God 
you  try  to  do,  seek  to  put  love  into  it.  Pray 
for  the  spirit  of  love.  Give  yourself  to  live 
a  life  of  love;  to  think  how  you  can  love 
those  around  you,  by  praying  for  them,  by 
serving  them,  by  labouring  for  their  wel- 
fare, temporal  and  spiritual.  Faith  work- 
ing by  love  in  Christ  Jesus,  this  alone 
availeth  much. 

1.  'Faith,  Hope,  Love:  the  greatest  of  these  is 
Love.'  There  is  no  faith  or  hope  in  God.  But 
God  is  love.     The  most  Godlike  thing  is  love. 

2.  Love  is  the  nature  of  God.  When  it  is  shed 
abroad  in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Spirit  love  be- 
comes our  new  nature.  Believe  this,  give  your- 
self over  to  it.  and  act  it  out. 

3.  Love  is  God's  power  to  do  His  work.  Love 
was  Christ's  power.  To  work  for  God  pray 
earnestly  to  be  filled  with  love  to  souls! 


XII 

Beattna  iFtutt  in  ever^  (3oot>  Mori? 

*  To  walk  worthily  of  the  Lord  unto  all  pleas- 
ing, bearing  fruit  in  every  good  work,  and  in- 
creasing in  the  knowledge  of  God ;  strengthened 
with  all  power,  according  to  the  might  of  His 
glory,  unto  all  patience.' — Col.  i.  lo. 

THERE  is  a  difference  between  fruit  and 
work.  Fruit  is  that  which  comes 
spontaneously,  without  thought  or  will,  the 
natural  and  necessary  outcome  of  a  healthy 
life.  Work,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  product 
of  effort  guided  by  intelligent  thought  and 
will.  In  the  Christian  life  we  have  the  two 
elements  in  combination.  All  true  work 
must  be  fruit,  the  growth  and  product  of 
our  inner  life,  the  operation  of  God's  Spirit 
within  us.  And  yet  all  fruit  must  be  work, 
the  effect  of  our  deliberate  purpose  and  ex- 
ertion. In  the  words,  *  bearing  fruit  in 
every  good  work,'  we  have  the  practical 
summing  up  of  the  truth  taught  in  some 
previous  chapters.  Because  God  works  by 
His  life  in  us,  the  work  we  do  is  fruit. 
Because,  in  the  faith  of  His  working,  we 
66 


Working  for  God  67 

have  to  will  and  to  work,  the  fruit  we  bear 
is  work.  In  the  harmony  between  the  per- 
fect spontaneity  that  comes  from  God's  life 
and  Spirit  animating  us,  and  our  co-opera- 
tion with  Him  as  His  intelligent  fellow- 
labourers,  lies  the  secret  of  all  true  work. 

In  the  words  that  precede  our  text, 
'  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  His  will  in  all 
wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding,'  we 
have  the  human  side,  our  need  of  knowl- 
edge and  wisdom ;  in  the  words  that  follow, 
'  strengthened  with  all  power,  according  to 
the  might  of  His  glory,'  we  have  the  Divine 
side.  God  teaching  and  strengthening,  man 
learning  to  understand  and  patiently  do  His 
will;  such  is  the  double  life  that  will  be 
fruitful  in  every  good  work. 

It  has  been  said  of  the  Christian  life  that 
the  natural  man  must  first  become  spiritual, 
and  then  again  the  spiritual  man  must  be- 
come natural.  As  the  whole  natural  life  be- 
comes truly  spiritual,  all  our  work  will  par- 
take of  the  nature  of  fruit,  the  outgrowth  of 
the  life  of  God  within  us.  And  as  the  spir- 
itual again  becomes  perfectly  natural  to  us, 
a  second  nature  in  which  we  are  wholly  at 
home,  all  the  fruit  will  bear  the  mark  of 
true  work,  calling  into  full  exercise  every 
faculty  of  our  being. 

'  Bearing  fruit  unto  every  good  work* 
The  words  suggest  again  the  great  thought, 


68  Working  for  God 

that  as  an  apple-tree  or  a  vine  is  planted 
solely  for  its  fruit,  so  the  great  purpose  of 
our  redemption  is  that  God  may  have  us  for 
His  work  and  service.  It  has  been  well 
said :  *  The  end  of  man  is  an  Action  and 
not  a  Thought,  though  it  were  of  the 
noblest.'  It  is  in  his  work  that  the 
nobility  of  man's  nature  as  ruler  of  the 
world  is  proved.  It  is  for  good  works  that 
we  have  been  new  created  in  Christ  Jesus : 
It  is  when  men  see  our  good  works  that  our 
Father  in  Heaven  will  be  glorified  and  have 
the  honour  which  is  His  due  for  His  work- 
manship. In  the  parable  of  the  vine  our 
Lord  insisted  on  this :  '  He  that  abideth 
in  Me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same  beareth  much 
fruit.'  '  Herein  is  My  Father  glorified,  that 
ye  bear  much  fruit.'  Nothing  is  more  to 
the  honour  of  a  husbandman  than  to  suc- 
ceed in  raising  an  abundant  crop — much 
fruit  is  glory  to  God. 

What  need  that  every  believer,  even  the 
feeblest  branch  of  the  Heavenly  Vine,  the 
man  who  has  only  one  talent,  be  encouraged 
and  helped,  and  even  trained,  to  aim  at  the 
much  fruit.  A  little  strawberry  plant  may, 
in  its  measure,  be  bearing  a  more  abundant 
crop  than  a  large  apple-tree.  The  call  to  be 
'fruitful  in  every  good  work  is  for  every 
Christian  without  exception.  The  grace 
that  fits  for  it,  of  which  the  prayer,  in  which 


Working  for  God  69 

our  words  are  found,  speaks,  is  for  every 
one.  Every  branch  fruitful  in  every  good 
work — ^this  is  an  essential  part  of  God's 
Gospel. 

'Bearing  fruit  in  every  good  zvork/  Let 
us  study  to  get  a  full  impression  of  the  two 
sides  of  this  Divine  truth.  God's  first  cre- 
ation of  life  was  in  the  vegetable  kingdom. 
There  it  was  a  life  without  anything  of  will 
or  self-effort,  all  growth  and  fruit  was 
simply  His  own  direct  work,  the  spon- 
taneous outcome  of  His  hidden  working. 
In  the  creation  of  the  animal  kingdom  there 
was  an  advance.  A  new  element  was  in- 
troduced— thought  and  will  and  work..  In 
man  these  two  elements  were  united  in  per- 
fect harmony.  The  absolute  dependence  of 
the  grass  and  the  lily  on  the  God  who 
clothes  them  with  their  beauty  were  to  be 
the  groundwork  of  our  relationship — Na- 
ture has  nothing  but  what  it  receives  from 
God.  Our  works  are  to  be  fruit,  the  prod- 
uct of  a  God-given  power.  But  to  this 
was  added  the  true  mark  of  our  God-like- 
ness, the  power  of  will  and  independent 
action :  all  fruit  is  to  be  our  own  work.  As 
we  grasp  this  we  shall  see  how  the  most 
absolute  acknowledgment  of  our  having 
nothing  in  ourselves  is  consistent  with  the 
deepest  sense  of  obligation  and  the 
Strongest  will  to  exert  our  powers  to  the 


70  Working  for  God 

very  utmost.  We  shall  learn  to  study  the 
prayer  of  our  text  as  those  who  must  seek 
all  their  wisdom  and  strength  from  God 
alone.  And  we  shall  boldly  give  ourselves, 
as  those  who  are  responsible  for  the  use  of 
that  wisdom  and  strength,  to  the  diligence 
and  the  sacrifice  and  the  effort  needed  for 
a  life  bearing  fruit  in  every  good  work. 

1.  Much  depends,  for  quality  and  quantity,  on 
the  healthy  life  of  the  tree.  The  life  of  God,  of 
Christ  Jesus,  of  His  Spirit,  the  Divine  life  in 
you,  is  strong  and  sure. 

2.  That  life  is  love.  Believe  in  it.  Act  it  out. 
Have  it  replenished  day  by  day  out  of  the  fulness 
there  is  in  Christ. 

3.  Let  all  your  work  be  fruit ;  let  all  your  will- 
ing and  working  be  inspired  by  the  life  of  God. 
So  will  you  walk  worthily  of  the  Lord  with  all 
pleasing. 


XIII 

Hlwai^s  abouuMuG  in  tbe  morft  of 
tbe  Xort) 

*  Wherefore,  my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye  sted- 
fast,  unmoveable,  always  abounding  in  the  work 
of  the  Lord,  forasmuch  as  ye  know  that  your 
labour  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord.' — i  Cor.  xv.  58. 

WE  all  know  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  ist 
Corinthians,  in  its  Divine  revelation 
of  the  meaning  of  Christ's  resurrection, 
with  all  the  blessings  of  which  it  is  the 
source. 

It  gives  us  a  living  Saviour,  who  revealed 
Himself  to  His  disciples  on  earth,  and  to 
Paul  from  heaven.  It  secures  to  us  the 
complete  deliverance  from  all  sin.  It  is 
the  pledge  of  His  final  victory  over  every 
enemy,  when  He  gives  up  the  kingdom  to 
the  Father,  and  God  is  all  in  all.  It  assures 
us  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  our 
entrance  on  the  heavenly  life.  Paul  had 
closed  his  argument  with  his  triumphant 
appeal  to  Death  and  Sin  and  the  Law :  '  O 
Death,  where  is  thy  victory?  The  sting 
of  Death  is  Sin,  and  the  power  of  Sin  is 

71 


72  Working  for  God 

the  Law.  But  thanks  be  to  God,  which 
giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.'  And  then  follows,  after 
fifty-seven  verses  of  exultant  teaching  con- 
cerning the  mystery  and  the  glory  of  the 
resurrection  life  in  our  Lord  and  His  peo- 
ple, just  one  verse  of  practical  application : 
'  Wherefore,  my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye 
stedfast,  unmoveable,  always  abounding  in 
the  work  of  the  Lord.'  The  faith  in  a  risen, 
living  Christ,  and  in  all  that  His  resurrec- 
tion is  to  us  in  time  and  eternity,  is  to  fit 
us  for,  is  to  prove  itself  in — abounding 
work  for  our  Lord ! 

It  cannot  be  otherwise.  Christ's  resur- 
rection was  His  final  victory  over  sin,  and 
death,  and  Satan,  and  His  entrance  upon 
His  work  of  giving  the  Spirit  from  heaven 
and  extending  His  kingdom  throughout  the 
earth.  Those  who  shared  the  resurrection 
joy  at  once  received  the  commission  to 
make  known  the  joyful  news.  It  was  so 
with  Mary  and  the  women.  It  was  so  with 
the  disciples  the  evening  of  the  resurrec- 
tion day.  *  As  the  Father  sent  Me,  I  send 
you.'  It  was  so  with  all  to  whom  the  charge 
was  given :  *  Go  into  all  the  world,  preach 
the  Gospel  to  every  creature.'  The  resur- 
rection is  the  beginning  and  the  pledge  of 
Christ's  victory  over  all  the  earth.  That 
victory  is  to  be  carried  out  to  its  complete 


Working  for  God  73 

manifestation  through  His  people.  The 
faith  and  joy  of  the  resurrection  Ufe  are  the 
inspiration  and  the  power  for  the  work  of 
doing  it.  And  so  the  call  comes  to  all  be- 
lievers without  exception  :  '  Wherefore, 
my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye  always  abound- 
ing in  the  work  of  the  Lord ! ' 

'In  the  zvork  of  the  Lord/  The  con- 
nection tells  us  at  once  what  that  work  is. 
Nothing  else,  nothing  less  than,  telling 
others  of  the  risen  Lord,  and  proving  to 
them  what  new  life  Christ  has  brought  to 
us.  As  we  indeed  know  and  acknowledge 
Him  as  Lord  over  all  we  are,  and  live  in  the 
joy  of  His  service,  we  shall  see  that  the 
work  of  the  Lord  is  but  one  work — that 
of  zvinuing  men  to  know  and  bow  to  Him. 
Amid  all  the  forms  of  lowly,  living,  patient 
service,  this  will  be  the  one  aim,  in  the 
power  of  the  life  of  the  risen  Lord,  to  make 
Him  Lord  of  all. 

This  work  of  the  Lord  is  no  easy  one.  It 
cost  Christ  His  life  to  conquer  sin  and 
Satan  and  gain  the  risen  life.  It  will  cost 
us  our  life,  too — the  sacrifice  of  the  life  of 
nature.  It  needs  the  surrender  of  all  on 
earth  to  live  in  the  full  power  of  resurrec- 
tion newness  of  life.  The  power  of  sin,  and 
the  world,  in  those  around  us  is  strong,  and 
Satan  does  not  yield  his  servants  an  easy 
prey  to  our  efforts.     It  needs  a  heart  in 


74  Working  for  God 

close  touch  with  the  risen  Lord,  truly  living 
the  resurrection  life,  to  be  stedfast,  un- 
moveable,  akvays  abounding  in  the  work  of 
the  Lord.  But  that  is  a  life  that  can  be 
lived — because   Jesus   lives. 

Paul  adds :  '  Forasmuch  as  ye  know  that 
your  labour  is  not  vain  in  the  Lord.'  I  have 
spoken  more  than  once  of  the  mighty  influ- 
ence that  the  certainty  of  reward  for  work, 
in  the  shape  of  wages  or  riches,  exerts  on 
the  millions  of  earth's  workers.  And  shall 
not  Christ's  workers  believe  that,  with  such 
a  Lord,  their  reward  is  sure  and  great? 
The  work  is  often  difficult  and  slow,  and  ap- 
parently fruitless.  We  are  apt  to  lose  heart, 
because  we  are  working  in  our  strength  and 
judging  by  our  expectations.  Let  us  listen 
to  the  message :  *  O  ye  children  of  the 
resurrection  life,  be  ye  always  abounding 
in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  forasmuch  as  ye 
know  your  labour  is  not  in  vain  in  the 
Lord.'  *  Let  not  your  hands  be  weak ;  your 
work  shall  be  rewarded.'  '  You  knozu  that 
your  labour  is  not  vain  in  the  Lord.' 

'In  the  Lord/  The  expression  is  a  sig- 
nificant one.  Study  it  in  Romans  xvi., 
where  it  occurs  ten  times,  where  Paul  uses 
the  expressions :  '  Receive  here  in  the 
Lord ; ' '  my  fellow-worker  in  Christ  Jesus  ; ' 
*  who  are  in  Christ,  in  the  Lord ; '  '  beloved 
in  the  Lord ; '  '  approved  in  Christ ; '  '  who 


Working  for  God  75 

labour  in  the  Lord; '  '  chosen  in  the  Lord.' 
The  whole  Hfe  and  fellowship  and  service  of 
these  saints  had  the  one  mark — they  were, 
their  labours  were,  in  the  Lord.  Here  is 
the  secret  of  effectual  service.  Your  la- 
bour is  not  '  in  vain  in  the  Lord.'  As  a 
sense  of  His  presence  and  the  power  of  His 
life  is  maintained,  as  all  works  are  wrought 
in  Him,  His  strength  works  in  our  weak- 
ness ;  our  labour  cannot  be  in  vain  in  the 
Lord.  Christ  said :  '  He  that  abideth  in 
Me,  and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth  forth 
much  fruit.'  Oh !  let  not  the  children  of 
this  world,  with  their  confidence  that  the 
masters  whose  work  they  are  doing  will  cer- 
tainly give  them  their  due  reward,  put  the 
children  of  light  to  shame.  Let  us  rejoice 
and  labour  in  the  confident  faith  of  the 
word :  '  Your  labour  is  not  in  vain  in  the 
Lord.  Wherefore,  beloved  brethren,  be 
ve  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the 
Lord.' 


XIV 

HbounMng  Grace  tor  HbounMuG 
mork 

'  And  God  is  able  to  make  all  grace  abound 
unto  you,  that  ye  may  abound  unto  every  good 
work.' — 2  CoR,  ix.  8. 

IN  our  previous  meditation  we  had  the 
great  motive  to  abounding  work — the 
spirit  of  triumphant  joy  which  Christ's 
resurrection  inspires  as  it  covers  the  past 
and  the  future.  Our  text  to-day  assures 
us  that  for  this  abounding  work  we  have 
the  ability  provided :  God  is  able  to  make  all 
grace  abound,  that  we  may  abound  to  all 
good  works.  Every  thought  of  abounding 
grace  is  to  be  connected  with  the  abounding 
in  good  works  for  which  it  is  given.  And 
every  thought  of  abounding  work  is  to  be 
connected  with  the  abounding  grace  that 
fits  for  it. 

Abounding  grace  has  abounding  work 
for  its  aim.  It  is  often  thought  that  grace 
and  good  works  are  at  variance  with  each 
other.  This  is  not  so.  What  Scripture 
calls  the  works  of  the  law,  our  own  works, 

76 


Working  for  God  77 

the  works  of  righteousness  which  we  have 
done,  dead  works — works  by  which  we 
seek  to  merit  or  to  be  made  fit  for  God's 
favour,  these  are  indeed  the  very  opposite 
of  grace.  But  they  are  also  the  very 
opposite  of  the  good  works  which  spring 
from  grace,  and  for  which  alone  grace  is 
bestowed.  As  irreconcilable  as  are  the 
works  of  the  law  with  the  freedom  of  grace, 
so  essential  and  indispensable  are  the  works 
of  faith,  good  works,  to  the  true  Christian 
life.  God  makes  grace  to  abound,  that  good 
works  may  abound.  The  measure  of  true 
grace  is  tested  and  proved  by  the  measure 
of  good  works.  God's  grace  abounds  in  us 
that  we  may  abound  in  good  works.  We 
need  to  have  the  truth  deeply  rooted  in  us : 
Abounding  grace  has  abounding  zvork  for 
its  aim. 

And  abounding  work  needs  abounding 
grace  as  its  source  and  strength.  There 
often  is  abounding  work  without  abounding 
grace.  Just  as  any  man  may  be  very  dili- 
gent in  an  earthly  pursuit,  or  a  heathen  in 
his  religious  service  of  an  idol,  so  men  may 
be  very  diligent  in  doing  religious  work  in 
their  own  strength,  with  but  little  thought 
of  that  grace  which  alone  can  do  true, 
spiritual  effective  work.  For  all  work  that 
is  to  be  really  acceptable  to  God,  and  truly 
fruitful,  not  only   for  some   visible   result 


7 8  Working  for  God 

here  on  earth,  but  for  eternity,  the  grace  of 
God  is  indispensable.  Paul  continually 
speaks  of  his  own  work  as  owing  ever>^- 
thing  to  the  grace  of  God  working  in  him : 
*  I  laboured  more  abundantly  than  they  all : 
yet  not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  which  was 
with  me'  (i  Cor.  xv.  lo).  'According  to 
the  gift  of  that  grace  of  God  which  was 
given  me  according  to  the  working  of  His 
power'  (Eph.  iii.  7).  And  he  as  frequently 
calls  upon  Christians  to  exercise  their  gifts 
'  according  to  the  grace  that  was  given  us  ' 
(Rom.  xii.  6).  'The  grace  given  accord- 
ing to  the  measure  of  the  gift  of  Christ ' 
(Eph.  iv.  7).  It  is  only  by  the  grace  of 
God  working  in  us  that  we  can  do  what 
are  truly  good  works.  It  is  only  as  we  seek 
and  receive  abounding  grace  that  we  can 
abound  in  every  good  work. 

'  God  is  able  to  make  all  grace  abound 
unto  you,  that  ye  may  abound  in  all  good 
works.'  With  what  thanksgiving  every 
Christian  ought  to  praise  God  for  the 
abounding  grace  that  is  thus  provided  for 
him.  And  with  what  humiliation  to  con- 
fess that  the  experience  of,  and  the  sur- 
render to,  that  abounding  grace  has  been 
so  defective.  And  with  what  confidence  to 
believe  that  a  life  abounding  in  good  works 
is  indeed  possible,  because  the  abounding 
grace  for  it  is  so  sure  and  so  Divinely  suffi- 


Working  for  God  79 

cient.  And  then,  with  what  simple  childHke 
dependence  to  wait  upon  God  day  by  day  to 
receive  the  more  grace  which  He  gives  to 
the  humble. 

Child  of  God !  do  take  time  to  study  and 
truly  apprehend  God's  purpose  with  you, 
that  you  abound  in  every  good  work!  He 
means  it!  He  has  provided  for  it!  Make 
the  measure  of  your  consecration  to  Him 
nothing  less  than  His  purpose  for  you. 
And  claim,  then,  nothing  less  than  the 
abounding  grace  He  is  able  to  bestow. 
Make  His  omnipotence  and  His  faithful- 
ness your  confidence.  And  live  ever  in  the 
practice  of  continual  prayer  and  depend- 
ence upon  His  powder  working  in  you.  This 
will  make  you  abound  in  every  good  work. 
According  to  your  faith  be  it  unto  you. 

Christian  worker,  learn  here  the  secret  of 
all  failure  and  all  success.  Work  in  our 
own  strength,  with  little  prayer  and  waiting 
on  God  for  His  spirit,  is  the  cause  of  fail- 
ure. The  cultivation  of  the  spirit  of  abso- 
lute impotence  and  unceasing  dependence 
will  open  the  heart  for  the  workings  of  the 
abounding  grace.  We  shall  learn  to  ascribe 
all  we  do  to  God's  grace.  We  shall  learn  to 
measure  all  we  have  to  do  by  God's  grace. 
And  our  Hfe  will  increasingly  be  in  the  joy 
of  God's  making  His  grace  to  abound  in  us, 
and  our  abounding  in  every  good  work. 


8o  Working  for  God 

1.  '  That  ye  may  abound  to  every  good  work.' 
Pray  over  this  now  till  you  feel  that  this  is  what 
God  has  prepared  for  you. 

2.  If  your  ignorance  and  feebleness  appear  to 
make  it  impossible,  present  yourself  to  God,  and 
say  you  are  willing,  if  He  will  enable  you  to 
abound  in  good  works,  to  be  a  branch  that  brings 
forth  much  fruit. 

3.  Take  into  your  heart,  as  a  living  seed,  the 
precious  truth :  God  is  able  to  make  all  grace 
abound  in  you.  Trust  His  power  and  His  faith- 
fulness (Rom.  iv.  20,  21 ;    i  Thess.  v.  24). 

4.  Begin  at  once  by  doing  lowly  deeds  of  love. 
As  the  little  child  in  the  kindergarten.  Learn  by 
doing. 


XV 

Hn  tbe  IKHork  of  /iDinlstertna 

*  And  he  gave  some  to  be  apostles ;  and  some, 
prophets ;  and  some,  evangelists ;  and  some,  pas- 
tors and  teachers ;  for  the  perfecting  of  the 
saints,  unto  the  work  of  ministering,  unto  the 
building  up  of  the  body  of  Christ.' — Eph.  iv.  ii, 

12. 

THE  object  with  which  Christ  when  He 
ascended  to  heaven  bestowed  on  His 
servants  the  various  gifts  that  are  men- 
tioned is  threefold.  Their  first  aim  is — 
for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints.  Believers 
as  saints  are  to  be  led  on  in  the  pursuit  of 
holiness  until  they  *  stand  perfect  and  com- 
plete in  all  the  will  of  God.'  It  was  for 
this  Epaphras  laboured  in  prayer.  It  is  of 
this  Paul  writes :  *  Whom  we  preach,  teach- 
ing every  man  in  all  wisdom,  that  we  may 
present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ'  (Col. 
iv.  12,  i.  28). 

This  perfecting  of  the  saints  is,  however, 
only  a  means  to  a  higher  end :  unto  the  work 
of  ministering,  to  fit  all  the  saints  to  take 
their  part  in  the  service  to  which  every  be- 

81 


Sa  Working  for  God 

liever  is  called.  It  is  the  same  word  as  is 
used  in  texts  as  these :  '  They  ministered  to 
Him  of  their  substance ; '  '  Ye  ministered 
to  the  saints  and  do  minister '  (Luke  iv.  30, 
viii.  3;  I  Cor.  xvi.  15;  Heb.  vi.  10;  i  Pet. 
iv.  11). 

And  this,  again,  is  also  a  means  to  a  still 
higher  end:  unto  the  building  tip  of  the 
body  of  Christ.  As  every  member  of  our 
body  takes  its  part  in  working  for  the  health 
and  growth  and  maintenance  of  the  whole, 
so  every  member  of  the  body  of  Christ  is 
to  consider  it  his  first  great  duty  to  take 
part  in  all  that  can  help  to  build  up  the 
body  of  Christ.  And  this,  whether  by  the 
helping  and  strengthening  of  those  who  are 
already  members,  or  the  ingathering  of 
those  who  are  to  belong  to  it.  And  the 
great  work  of  the  Church  is,  through  its 
pastors  and  teachers,  so  to  labour  for  the 
perfecting  of  the  saints  in  hoHness  and  love 
and  fitness  for  service,  that  every  one  may 
take  his  part  in  the  zvork  of  ministering, 
that  so,  the  body  of  Christ  may  be  built  up 
and  perfected. 

Of  the  three  great  objects  with  which 
Christ  has  given  His  Church  apostles  and 
teachers,  the  work  of  ministering  stands 
thus  in  the  middle.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is 
preceded  by  that  on  which  it  absolutely  de- 
pends— the  perfecting  of  the  saints.     On 


Working  for  God  83 

the  other,  it  is  followed  by  that  which  it  is 
meant  to  accomplish — the  building  up  of 
the  body  of  Christ:  Every  believer  without 
exception,  every  member  of  Christ's  body, 
is  called  to  take  part  in  the  work  of  minis- 
tering. Let  every  reader  try  and  realise  the 
sacredness  of  his  holy  calling. 

Let  us  learn  what  the  qualification  is  for 
our  work.  '  The  perfecting  of  the  saints  ' 
prepares  them  for  the  '  work  of  minister- 
ing.' It  is  the  lack  of  true  sainthood,  of 
true  holiness,  that  causes  such  lack  and  fee- 
bleness of  service.  As  Christ's  saints  are 
taught  and  truly  learn  what  conformity  to 
Christ  means,  a  life  like  his,  given  up  in 
self-sacrifice  for  the  service  and  salvation  of 
men,  as  His  humility  and  love,  His  separa- 
tion from  the  world  and  devotion  to  the 
fallen,  are  seen  to  be  the  very  essence  and 
blessedness  of  the  life  He  gives,  the  work 
of  ministering,  the  ministry  of  love,  will 
become  the  one  thing  we  live  for.  Humility 
and  Love — these  are  the  two  great  virtues 
of  the  saint — they  are  the  two  great  powers 
for  the  work  of  ministering.  Humility 
makes  us  willing  to  serve;  love  makes  us 
wise  to  know  how  to  do  it.  Love  is  inven- 
tive; it  seeks  patiently,  and  suffers  long, 
until  it  find  a  way  to  reach  its  object.  Hu- 
mility and  love  are  equally  turned  away 
from  self  and  its  claims.     Let  us  pray,  let 


84  Working  for  God 

the  Church  labour  for  *  the  perfecting  of 
the  saints  '  in  humiHty  and  love,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  will  teach  us  how  to  minister. 

Let  us  look  at  what  the  great  work  is  the 
members  of  Christ  have  to  do.  It  is  to  min- 
ister to  each  other.  Place  yourself  at 
Christ's  disposal  for  service  to  your  fellow- 
Christians.  Count  yourself  their  servant. 
Study  their  interest.  Set  yourself  actively 
to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  Christians 
round  you.  Selfishness  may  hesitate,  the 
feeling  of  feebleness  may  discourage,  sloth 
and  ease  may  raise  difficulties — ask  your 
Lord  to  reveal  to  you  His  will,  and  give 
yourself  up  to  it.  Round  about  you  there 
are  Christians  who  are  cold  and  worldly 
and  wandering  from  their  Lord.  Begin  to 
think  what  you  can  do  for  them.  Accept 
as  the  will  of  the  Head  that  you  as  a  mem- 
ber should  care  for  them.  Pray  for  the 
Spirit  of  love.  Begin  somewhere — only 
begin,  and  do  not  continue  hearing  and 
thinking  while  you  do  nothing.  Begin  '  the 
work  of  ministering  '  according  to  the  meas- 
ure of  the  grace  you  have.  He  will  give 
more  grace. 

Let  us  believe  in  the  power  that  worketh 
in  us  as  sufficient  for  all  we  have  to  do.  As 
I  think  of  the  thumb  and  finger  holding  the 
pen  with  which  I  write  this,  I  ask.  How  is  it 
that  during  all  these  seventy  years  of  my 


Working  for  God  85 

life  they  have  always  known  just  to  do 
my  will?  It  was  because  the  Hfe  of  the 
head  passed  into  and  worked  itself  out  in 
them.  '  He  that  believeth  on  Me/  as  his 
Head  working  in  him,  '  the  works  that  I  do 
shall  he  do  also.'  Faith  in  Christ,  whose 
strength  is  made  perfect  in  our  weakness, 
will  give  the  power  for  all  we  are  called 
to  do. 

Let  us  cry  to  God  that  all  believers  may 
waken  up  to  the  power  of  this  great  truth  : 
Every  member  of  the  body  is  to  live  wholly 
for  the  building  up  of  the  body. 

1.  To  be  a  true  worker  the  first  thing  is  close, 
humble  fellowship  with  Christ  the  Head,  to  be 
guided  and  empowered  by  Him. 

2.  The  next  is  humble,  loving  fellowship  with 
Christ's  members  serving  one  another  in  love, 

3.  This  prepares  and  fits  for  service  in  the 
world. 


XVI 

HccorMuG  to  tbe  Morftino  ot  eacb 
several  part 

*  That  we  may  grow  up  in  all  things  into  Him, 
which  is  the  Head,  even  Christ;  from  whom  all 
the  body  fitly  framed  and  knit  together  through 
that  which  every  joint  supplieth,  according  to  the 
working  in  due  measure  of  each  several  part, 
maketh  the  increase  of  the  body  unto  the  build- 
ing up  of  itself  in  love.' — Eph.  iv.  15,  16. 

THE  Apostle  is  here  speaking  of  the 
growth,  the  increase,  the  building  up 
of  the  body.  This  growth  and  increase 
has,  as  we  have  seen,  a  double  reference. 
It  includes  both  the  spiritual  uniting  and 
strengthening  of  those  who  are  already 
members,  so  as  to  secure  the  health  of  the 
whole  body;  and  also  the  increase  of  the 
body  by  the  addition  of  all  who  are  as  yet 
outside  of  it,  and  are  to  be  gathered  in. 
Of  the  former  we  spoke  in  the  previous 
chapter — the  mutual  interdependence  of  all 
believers,  and  the  calling  to  care  foi  each 
other's  welfare.  In  this  chapter  we  look 
at  the  growth  from  the  other  side — the  call- 
86 


Working  for  God  87 

ing  of  every  member  of  Christ's  body  to 
labour  for  its  increase  by  the  labour  of  love 
that  seeks  to  bring  in  them  who  are  not  yet 
of  it.  This  increase  of  the  body  and  build- 
ing up  of  itself  in  love  can  only  be  by  the 
working  in  due  measure  of  each  several 
part. 

Think  of  the  body  of  a  child ;  how  does  it 
reach  the  stature  of  a  full-grown  man  ?  In 
no  other  way  but  by  the  working  in  due 
measure  of  every  part.  As  each  member 
takes  its  part,  by  the  work  it  does  in  seeking 
and  taking  and  assimilating  food,  the  in- 
crease is  made  by  its  building  up  itself. 
Not  from  without,  but  from  within,  comes 
the  work  that  assures  the  growth.  In  no 
other  way  can  Christ's  body  attain  to  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ.  As  it  is 
unto  Christ  the  Head  we  grow  up,  and  from 
Christ  the  Head  that  the  body  maketh  in- 
crease of  itself,  so  it  is  all  through  that 
which  every  joint  supplieth,  according  to 
the  working  in  due  measure  of  each  several 
part.     Let  us  see  what  this  implies. 

The  body  of  Christ  is  to  consist  of  all 
who  believe  in  Him  throughout  the  world. 
There  is  no  possible  way  in  which  these 
members  of  the  body  can  be  gathered  in, 
but  by  the  body  building  itself  up  in  love. 
Our  Lord  has  made  Himself,  as  Head,  ab- 
solutely dependent  on  His  members  to  do 


88  Working  for  God 

this  work.  What  nature  teaches  us  of  our 
own  bodies,  Scripture  teaches  us  of  Christ's 
body.  The  head  of  a  child  may  have 
thought  and  plans  of  growth — they  will  all 
be  vain,  except  as  the  members  all  do  their 
part  in  securing  that  growth.  Christ  Jesus 
has  committed  to  His  Church  the  growth 
and  increase  of  His  body.  He  asks  and 
expects  that  as  wholly  as  He  the  Head  lives 
for  the  growth  and  welfare  of  the  body, 
every  member  of  His  body,  the  very  fee- 
blest, shall  do  the  same,  to  the  building  up 
of  the  body  in  love.  Every  believer  is  to 
count  it  his  one  duty  and  blessedness  to  live 
and  labour  for  the  increase  of  the  body,  the 
ingathering  of  all  who  are  to  be  its  mem- 
bers. 

What  is  it  that  is  needed  to  bring  the 
Church  to  accept  this  calling,  and  to  train 
and  help  the  members  of  the  body  to  know 
and  fulfil  it?  One  thing.  We  must  see 
that  the  new  birth  and  faith,  that  all  insight 
into  truth,  with  all  resolve  and  surrender 
and  effort  to  live  according  to  it,  is  only  a 
preparation  for  our  true  work.  What  is 
needed  is  that  in  every  believer  Jesus  Christ 
be  so  formed,  so  dwell  in  the  heart,  that 
His  life  in  us  shall  be  the  impulse  and  in- 
spiration of  our  love  to  the  whole  body,  and 
our  life  for  it.  It  is  because  self  occupies 
the  heart  that  it  is  so  easy  and  natural  and 


Working  for  God  89 

pleasing  to  care  for  ourselves.  When  Jesus 
Christ  lives  in  us,  it  will  be  as  easy  and 
natural  and  pleasing  to  live  wholly  for  the 
body  of  Christ.  As  readily  and  naturally 
as  the  thumb  and  fingers  respond  to  the 
will  and  movement  of  the  head  will  the 
members  of  Christ's  body  respond  to  the 
Head,  as  the  body  grows  up  into  Him,  and 
from  Him  maketh  increase  of  itself. 

Let  us  sum  up.  For  the  great  work  the 
Head  is,  doing  in  gathering  in  from 
throughout  the  world  and  building  up  His 
body,  He  is  entirely  dependent  on  the  serv- 
ice of  the  members.  Not  only  our  Lord, 
but  a  perishing  world  is  waiting  and  calling 
for  the  Church  to  awake  and  give  herself 
wholly  to  this  work — the  perfecting  of  the 
number  of  Christ's  members.  Every  be^ 
liever,  the  very  feeblest,  must  learn  to  know 
his  calling — to  live  zvith  this  as  the  main 
object  of  this  existence.  This  great  truth 
will  be  revealed  to  us  in  power,  and  obtain 
the  mastery,  as  we  give  ourselves  to  the 
work  of  ministering  according  to  the  grace 
zve  already  have.  We  may  confidently  wait 
for  the  full  revelation  of  Christ  in  us  as  the 
power  to  do  all  He  asks  of  us. 


XVII 

Momen  aborneD  witb  Goob  Mot!? 

'  Let  women  adorn  themselves;  not  with 
braided  hair,  and  gold  or  pearls  or  costly  rai- 
ment ;  but  through  good  zvorks.  Let  none  be 
enrolled  as  a  widow  under  threescore  years  old, 
well  reported  of  for  good  works;  ...  if  she  hath 
diligently  followed  every  good  work. — i  Tim.  ii. 
10,  V.  9,  10. 

IN  the  three  Pastoral  Epistles,  written  to 
two  young  pastors  to  instruct  them  in 
regard  to  their  duties,  *  good  works  '  are 
more  frequently  mentioned  than  in  Paul's 
other  Epistles.^  In  writing  to  the  Churches, 
as  in  a  chapter  like  Romans  xii.  he  mentions 
the  individual  good  work  by  name.  In 
writing  to  the  pastors  he  had  to  use  this 
expression  as  a  summary  of  what,  both  in 
their  own  life  and  their  teaching  of  others, 
they  had  to  aim  at.  A  minister  was  to  be 
prepared  to  every  good  work,  furnished 
completely  to  every  good  work,  an  ensample 

^  In  I  Tim.  6  times — ii.  ii,  iii.  i,  v.  lo,  a.  2,  v. 
25,  vi.  i8.  In  2  Tim.  twice — ii.  2i,  iii.  17.  In 
Titus  6  times— i.  16,  ii.  7,  14,  iii.  i,  8,  14. 

90 


Working  for  God  91 

of  good  works.  And  they  were  to  teach 
Christians — the  women  to  adorn  themselves 
with  good  works,  dihgently  to  follow  every 
good  work,  to  be  well  reported  of  for  good 
works;  the  men  to  be  rich  in  good  works, 
zealous  of  good  works,  ready  to  every  good 
work,  to  be  careful  and  to  learn  to  maintain 
good  works.  No  portion  of  God's  work 
presses  home  more  definitely  the  absolute 
necessity  of  good  works  as  an  essential, 
vital  element  in  the  Christian  life. 

Our  two  texts  speak  of  the  good  works 
of  Christian  women.  In  the  first  they  are 
taught  that  their  adorning  is  to  be  not  with 
braided  hair,  and  gold  or  pearls  or  costly 
raiment,  but,  as  becomes  women  preferring 
godliness,  with  good  works.  We  know 
what  adornment  is.  A  leafless  tree  in  win- 
ter has  life;  when  spring  comes  it  puts  on 
its  beautiful  garments,  and  rejoices  in  the 
adornment  of  foliage  and  blossom.  The 
adorning  of  Christian  women  is  not  to  be 
in  hair  or  pearls  or  raiment,  but  in  good 
works.  Whether  it  be  the  good  works  that 
have  reference  to  personal  duty  and  con- 
duct, or  those  works  of  beneficence  that  aim 
at  the  pleasing  and  helping  of  our  neigh- 
bour, or  those  that  more  definitely  seek  the 
salvation  of  souls — the  adorning  that 
pleases  God,  that  gives  true  heavenly 
beauty,   that   will   truly   attract   others    to 


92  Working  for  God 

come  and  serve  God,  too,  is  what  Christian 
women  ought  to  seek  after.  John  saw  the 
holy  city  descend  from  heaven,  '  made 
ready  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband/ 
'  The  fine  hnen  is  the  righteous  acts  of  the 
saints'  (Rev.  xxi.  2,  xix.  8).  Oh!  that 
every  Christian  woman  might  seek  so  to 
adorn  herself  as  to  please  the  Lord  that 
loved  her. 

In  the  second  passage  we  read  of  widows 
who  were  placed  upon  a  roll  of  honour  in 
the  early  Church,  and  to  whom  a  certain 
charge  was  given  over  the  younger  women. 
No  one  was  to  be  enrolled  who  was  not 
'  well  reported  of  for  good  works.'  Some 
of  these  are  mentioned:  if  she  has  been 
known  for  the  careful  bringing  up  of  her 
children,  for  her  hospitality  to  strangers, 
for  her  washing  the  saints'  feet,  for  her  re- 
lieving the  afflicted ;  and  then  there  is 
added,  '  if  she  hath  diligently  follozved 
every  good  work/  If  in  her  home  and  out 
of  it,  in  caring  for  her  own  children,  for 
strangers,  for  saints,  for  the  afflicted,  her 
life  has  been  devoted  to  good  works,  she 
may  indeed  be  counted  fit  to  be  an  example 
and  guide  to  others.  The  standard  is  a  high 
one.  It  shows  us  the  place  good  works 
took  in  the  early  Church.  It  shows  how 
woman's  blessed  ministry  of  love  was 
counted  on  and  encouraged.    It  shows  how, 


Working  for  God  93 

in  the  development  of  the  Christian  Hfe, 
nothing  so  fits  for  rule  and  influence  as  a 
life  given  to  good  works. 

Good  works  are  part  and  parcel  of  the 
Christian  life,  equally  indispensable  to  the 
health  and  growth  of  the  individual,  and  to 
the  welfare  and  extension  of  the  Church. 
And  yet  what  multitudes  of  Christian 
women  there  are  whose  active  share  in  the 
good  work  of  blessing  their  fellow-creatures 
is  little  more  than  playing  at  good  works. 
They  are  waiting  for  the  preaching  of  a  full 
gospel,  which  shall  encourage  and  help  and 
compel  them  to  give  their  lives  so  to  work 
for  their  Lord,  that  they,  too,  may  be  well 
reported  of  as  diligently  following  every 
good  work.  The  time  and  money,  the 
thought  and  heart  given  to  jewels  or  costly 
raiment  will  be  redeemed  to  its  true  object. 
Religion  will  no  longer  be  a  selfish  desire 
for  personal  safety,  but  the  joy  of  being 
like  Christ,  the  helper  and  saviour  of  the 
needy.  Work  for  Christ  will  take  its  true 
place  as  indeed  the  highest  form  of  exist- 
ence, the  true  adornment  of  the  Christian 
life.  And  as  diligence  in  the  pursuits  of 
earth  is  honoured  as  one  of  the  true  ele- 
ments of  character  and  worth,  diligently 
to  follow  good  works  in  Christ's  service 
will  be  found  to  give  access  to  the  highest 
reward  and  the  fullest  joy  of  the  Lord. 


94  Working  for  God 

1.  We  are  beginning  to  awaken  to  the  wonder- 
ful place  woman  can  take  in  church  and  school 
and  mission.  This  truth  needs  to  be  brought 
home  to  every  one  of  the  King's  daughters,  that 
the  adorning  in  which  they  are  to  attract  the 
world,  to  please  their  Lord,  and  enter  His  pres- 
ence is — good  works. 

2.  Woman,  as  the  image  of  'the  weakness  of 
God,'  '  the  meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ,'  is 
to  teach  man  the  beauty  and  the  power  of  the 
long-suffering,  self-sacrificing  ministry  of  love. 

3.  The  training  for  the  service  of  love  begins 
in  the  home  life;  is  strengthened  in  the  inner 
chamber;  reaches  out  to  the  needy  around,  and 
finds  its  full  scope  in  the  world  for  which  Christ 
died. 


XVIII 
IRtcb  In  6oob  Timorfts 

*  Charge  them  that  are  rich  in  the  present 
world,  that  they  do  good,  that  they  be  rich  in 
good  works,  that  they  be  ready  to  distribute,  will- 
ing to  communicate,  laying  up  for  themselves  a 
good  foundation  against  the  time  to  come,  that 
they  may  lay  hold  on  the  life  which  is  life  in- 
deed.'— I  Tim.  vi.  i8. 

IF  women  are  to  regard  good  work  as 
their  adornment,  men  are  to  count  them 
their  riches.  As  good  works  satisfy 
woman's  eye  and  taste  for  beauty,  they  meet 
man's  craving  for  possession  and  power. 
In  the  present  world  riches  have  a  wonder- 
ful significance.  They  are  often  God's  re- 
ward on  diligence,  industry,  and  enterprise. 
They  represent  and  embody  the  life-power 
that  has  been  spent  in  procuring  them.  As 
such  they  exercise  power  in  the  honour  or 
service  they  secure  from  others.  Their 
danger  consists  in  their  being  of  this  world, 
in  their  drawing  off  the  heart  from  the  liv- 
ing God  and  the  heavenly  treasures.  They 
may  become  a  man's  deadliest  enemy :  How 

95 


96  Working  for  God 

hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven ! 

The  gospel  never  takes  away  anything 
from  us  without  giving  us  something  better 
in  its  stead.  It  meets  the  desire  for  riches 
by  the  command  to  be  rich  in  good  works. 
Good  works  are  the  coin  that  is  current  in 
God's  kingdom :  according  to  these  will  be 
the  reward  in  the  world  to  come.  By 
abounding  in  good  works  we  lay  up  for 
ourselves  treasures  in  heaven.  Even  here 
on  earth  they  constitute  a  treasure,  in  the 
testimony  of  a  good  conscience,  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  being  well-pleasing  to  God 
(i  John  iii.),  in  the  power  of  blessing 
others. 

There  is  more.  Wealth  of  gold  is  not 
only  a  symbol  of  the  heavenly  riches;  it  is 
actually,  though  so  opposite  in  its  nature,  a 
means  to  it.  '  Charge  the  rich  that  they  do 
good,  that  they  be  ready  to  distribute,  will- 
ing to  communicate,  laying  up  for  them- 
selves a  good  foundation.'  '  Make  to  your- 
selves friends  by  means  of  the  mammon  of 
unrighteousness,  that,  when  it  fails,  they 
may  receive  you  into  the  eternal  taber- 
nacles.' Even  as  the  widow's  mite,  the  gifts 
of  the  rich,  when  given  in  the  same  spirit, 
may  be  an  offering  with  which  God  is  well 
pleased  (Heb.  xiii.  16).  The  man  who  is 
rich  in  money  may  become  rich  in  good 


Working  for  God  97 

works,  if  he  follows  out  the  instructions 
Scripture  lays  down.  The  money  must  not 
be  given  to  be  seen  of  men,  but  as  unto  the 
Lord.  Nor  as  from  an  owner,  but  a  stew- 
ard who  administers  the  Lord's  money, 
with  prayer  for  His  guidance.  Nor  with 
any  confidence  in  its  power  or  influence, 
but  in  deep  dependence  on  Him  who  alone 
can  make  it  a  blessing.  Nor  as  a  substitute 
for,  or  bringing  out  from  that  personal 
work  and  witness,  which  each  believer  is 
to  give.  As  all  Christian  work,  so  our 
money-giving  has  its  value  alone  from  the 
spirit  in  which  it  is  done,  even  the  spirit  of 
Christ  Jesus. 

What  a  field  there  is  in  the  world  for 
accumulating  these  riches,  these  heavenly 
treasures.  In  reheving  the  poor,  in  educa- 
ting the  neglected,  in  helping  the  lost,  in 
bringing  the  gospel  to  Christians  and 
heathen  in  darkness,  what  investment  might 
be  made  if  Christians  sought  to  be  rich  in 
good  works,  rich  toward  God.  We  may 
well  ask  the  question,  '  What  can  be  done 
to  waken  among  believers  a  desire  for  these 
true  riches?  Men  have  made  a  science  of 
the  wealth  of  nations,  and  carefully  studied 
all  the  laws  by  which  its  increase  and  uni- 
versal distribution  can  be  promoted.  How 
can  the  charge  to  be  rich  in  good  works  find 
a  response  in  the  hearts  that  its  pursuit  shall 


98  Working  for  God 

be  as  much  a  pleasure  and  a  passion  as  the 
desire  for  the  riches  of  the  present  world? 
All  depends  upon  the  nature,  the  spirit, 
there  is  in  man.  To  the  earthly  nature, 
earthly  riches  have  a  natural  affinity  and 
irresistible  attraction.  To  foster  the  desire 
for  the  acquisition  of  what  constitutes 
wealth  in  the  heavenly  kingdom,  we  must 
appeal  to  the  spiritual  nature.  That  spir- 
itual nature  needs  to  be  taught  and  edu- 
cated and  trained  into  all  the  business  hab- 
its that  go  to  make  a  man  rich.  There 
must  be  the  ambition  to  rise  above  the  level 
of  a  bare  existence,  the  deadly  contentment 
with  just  being  saved.  There  must  be 
some  insight  into  the  beauty  and  worth  of 
good  works  as  the  expression  of  the  Divine 
life — God's  working  in  us  and  our  working 
in  Him ;  as  the  means  of  bringing  glory  to 
God;  as  the  source  of  Hfe  and  blessing  to 
men;  as  the  laying  up  of  a  treasure  in 
heaven  for  eternity.  There  must  be  a  faith 
that  these  riches  are  actually  within  our 
reach,  because  the  grace  and  Spirit  of  God 
are  working  in  us.  And  then  the  outlook 
for  every  opportunity  of  doing  the  work 
of  God  to  those  around  us,  in  the  footsteps 
of  Him  who  said,  '  It  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  receive.'  Study  and  apply  these 
principles — they  will  open  the  sure  road  to 
your  becoming  a  rich  man.     A  man  who 


Working  for  God  99 

wants  to  be  rich  often  begins  on  a  small 
scale,  but  never  loses  an  opportunity.  Begin 
at  once  with  some  work  of  love,  and  ask 
Christ,  who  became  poor,  that  you  might  he 
rich,  to  help  you. 

1.  What  is  the  cause  that  the  appeal  for  money 
for  missions  meets  with  such  insufficient  re- 
sponse? It  is  because  of  the  low  spiritual  state 
of  the  Church.  Christians  have  no  due  concep- 
tion of  their  calling  to  live  wholly  for  God  and 
His  kingdom, 

2.  How  can  the  evil  be  remedied?  Only  when 
believers  see  and  accept  their  Divine  calling  to 
make  God's  kingdom  their  first  care,  and  with 
humble  confession  of  their  sins  yield  themselves 
to  God,  will  they  truly  seek  the  heavenly  riches 
to  be  found  in  working  for  God. 

3.  Let  us  never  cease  to  plead  and  labour  for  a 
true  spiritual  awakening  throughout  the  Church. 


XIX 

IPrepareb  unto  cvcv^  6oo^  Morft 

*  If  a  man  therefore  cleanse  himself  from  them, 
he  shall  be  a  vessel  unto  honour,  sanctified,  meet 
for  the  Master's  use,  prepared  unto  every  good 
work.' — 2  Tim.  ii.  21. 

PAUL  had  spoken  of  the  foundation  of 
God  standing  sure  (ii.  19),  of  the 
Church  as  the  great  house  built  upon  that 
foundation,  of  vessels,  not  only  of  gold, 
silver,  costly  and  lasting,  vessels  to  honour, 
but  also  of  wood  and  of  earth,  common  and 
perishable,  vessels  to  dishonour.  He  dis- 
tinguishes between  them  of  whom  he  had 
spoken,  who  gave  themselves  to  striving 
about  words  and  to  vain  babblings,  and 
such  as  truly  sought  to  depart  from  all  in- 
iquity. In  our  text  he  gives  us  the  four 
steps  in  the  path  in  which  a  man  can  be- 
come a  vessel  unto  honour  in  the  great 
household  of  God.  These  are,  the  cleansing 
from  sin ;  the  being  sanctified ;  the  meetness 
for  the  Master  to  use  as  He  will ;  and  last, 
the  spirit  of  preparedness  for  every  good 
work.    It  is  not  enough  that  we  desire  or 

100, 


Working  for  God  loi 

attempt  to  do  good  works.  As  we  need 
training  and  care  to  prepare  us  for  every 
work  we  are  to  do  on  earth,  we  need  it  no 
less,  or  rather  we  need  it  much  more,  to  be 
— what  constitutes  the  chief  mark  of  the 
vessels  unto  honour — to  be  prepared  unto 
every  good  work. 

'  If  a  man  cleanse  himself  from  them  ' — 
from  that  which  characterises  the  vessels 
of  dishonour — ^the  empty  profession  leading 
to  ungodliness,  against  which  he  had 
warned.  In  every  dish  and  cup  we  use, 
how  we  insist  upon  it  that  it  shall  be  clean. 
In  God's  house  the  vessels  must  much  more 
be  clean.  And  every  one  who  would  be 
truly  prepared  unto  every  good  work  must 
see  to  this  first  of  all,  that  he  cleanse  him- 
self from  all  that  is  sin.  Christ  Himself 
could  not  enter  upon  His  saving  work  in 
heaven  until  He  had  accomplished  the 
cleansing  of  our  sins.  How  can  we  become 
partners  in  His  work,  unless  there  be  with 
us  the  same  cleansing  first.  Ere  Isaiah 
could  say,  '  Here  am  I,  send  me,'  the  fire 
of  heaven  had  touched  his  lips,  and  he 
heard  the  voice,  *  Thy  sin  is  purged.'  An 
intense  desire  to  be  cleansed  from  every  sin 
lies  at  the  root  of  fitness  for  true  service. 

'He  shall  be  a  vessel  of  honour,  sancti- 
fied' Cleansing  is  the  negative  side,  the 
emptying  out  and  removal  of  all  that  is  im^ 


I02  Working  for  God 

pure.  Sanctified,  the  positive  side,  the  re- 
filling and  being  possessed  of  the  spirit  of 
holiness,  through  whom  the  soul  becomes 
God-possessed,  and  so  partakes  of  His  holi- 
ness. '  Let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all 
defilement  of  flesh  and  spirit ' — this  first, 
then,  and  so  '  perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear 
of  the  Lord.'  In  the  temple  the  vessels 
were  not  only  to  be  clean,  but  holy,  devoted 
to  God's  service  alone.  He  that  would  truly 
work  for  God  must  follow  after  holi- 
ness ;  '  a  heart  established  in  holiness ' 
(i  Thess.  iv.  14),  a  holy  habit  of  mind  and 
disposition,  yielded  up  to  God  and  marked 
by  a  sense  of  His  presence,  fit  for  God's 
work.  The  cleansing  from  sin  secures  the 
filling  with  the  Spirit. 

'Meet  for  the  Master's  use.'  We  are 
vessels  for  our  Lord  to  use.  In  every  work 
we  do,  it  is  to  be  Christ  using  us  and  work- 
ing through  us.  The  sense  of  being  a  serv- 
ant, dependent  on  the  Master's  guidance, 
working  under  the  Master's  eye,  instru- 
ments used  by  Him  and  His  mighty  power, 
lies  at  the  root  of  effectual  service.  It 
maintains  that  unbroken  dependence,  that 
quiet  faith,  through  which  the  Lord  can  do 
His  work.  It  keeps  up  that  blessed  con- 
sciousness of  the  work  being  all  His,  which 
leads  the  worker  to  become  the  humbler  the 


Working  for  God  103 

more  he  is  used.     His  one  desire  is — meet 
for  the  Master's  use. 

'Prepared  unto  every  good  work.'  Pre- 
pared. The  word  not  only  means  equip- 
ment, fitness,  but  also  the  disposition,  the 
alacrity  which  keeps  a  man  on  the  outlook, 
and  makes  him  earnestly  desire  and  joy- 
fully avail  himself  of  every  opportunity  of 
doing  his  Master's  work.  As  he  lives  in 
touch  with  his  Lord  Jesus,  and  holds  him- 
self as  a  cleansed  and  sanctified  vessel, 
ready  for  Him  to  use,  and  he  sees  how  good 
works  are  what  he  was  redeemed  for,  and 
what  his  fellowship  with  his  Lord  is  to  be 
proved  in,  they  become  the  one  thing  he  is 
to  live  for.  He  is  prepared  unto  every 
good  work. 

1.  'Meet  for  the  Master's  use,'  that  is  the  cen- 
tral thought.  A  personal  relation  to  Christ,  an 
entire  surrender  to  His  disposal,  a  dependent 
waiting  to  be  used  by  Him,  a  joyful  confidence 
that  He  will  use  us — such  is  the  secret  of  true 
work. 

2.  Let  the  beginning  of  your  work  be  a  giving 
yourself  into  the  hands  of  the  Master,  as  your 
living,  loving  Lord. 


XX 

ffutnisbeb  completely  unto  everi^ 
(Boob  Mork 

*  Give  diligence  to  present  thyself  approved 
unto  God,  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  he 
ashamed,  handling  aright  the  word  of  truth.' — 2 
Tim.  ii.  15. 

'Every  scripture  inspired  of  God  is  also  profit- 
able for  teaching,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for 
instruction  which  is  in  righteousness ;  that  the  man 
of  God  may  be  complete,  furnished  completely 
unto  every  good  work.' — 2  Tim.  iii.  16,  17. 

A  WORKMAN  that  needeth  not  to  be 
ashamed  is  one  who  is  not  afraid  to 
have  the  master  come  and  inspect  his  work. 
In  hearty  devotion  to  it,  in  thoroughness 
and  skill,  he  presents  himself  approved  to 
him  who  employs  him.  God's  workers  are 
to  give  diligence  to  present  themselves  ap- 
proved to  Him ;  to  have  their  work  worthy 
of  Him  unto  all  well-pleasing.  They  are 
to  be  as  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be 
ashamed.  A  workman  is  one  who  knows 
his  work,  who  gives  himself  wholly  to  it, 
who  is  known  as  a  working  man,  who  takes 
delight  in  doing  his  work  well.    Such  every 

104 


Working  for  God  105 

Christian  minister,  every  Christian  worker, 
is  to  be — a  workman  that  makes  a  study 
of  it  to  invite  and  expect  the  Master's 
approval. 

'  Handling  aright  the  zuord  of  truth/ 
The  word  is  a  seed,  a  fire,  a  hammer,  a 
sword,  is  bread,  is  Ught.  Workmen  in  any 
of  these  spheres  can  be  our  example.  In 
work  for  God  everything  depends  upon 
handling  the  word  aright.  Therefore  it  is 
that,  in  the  second  text  quoted  above,  the 
personal  subjection  to  the  word,  and  the 
experience  of  its  power,  is  spoken  of  as  the 
one  means  of  our  being  completely  fur- 
nished to  every  good  work.  God's  workers 
must  know  that  the  Scripture  is  inspired  of 
God,  and  has  the  life  and  life-giving  power 
of  God  in  it.  Inspired  is  Spirit-breathed — 
as  the  life  in  a  seed,  God's  Holy  Spirit  is 
in  the  word.  The  Spirit  in  the  word  and 
the  Spirit  in  our  heart  is  One.  As  by  the 
power  of  the  Spirit  within  us  we  take  the 
Spirit-filled  word  we  become  spiritual  men. 
This  word  is  given  for  teaching,  the  reve- 
lation of  the  thoughts  of  God ;  for  reproof, 
the  discovery  of  our  sins  and  mistakes  ;  for 
correction,  the  removal  of  what  is  defective 
to  be  replaced  by  what  is  right  and  good; 
for  instruction  zvhich  is  in  righteousness, 
the  communication  of  all  the  knov/ledge 
needed  to  walk  before  God  in  His  ways. 


io6  Working  for  God 

As  one  yields  himself  wholly  and  heartily 
to  all  this,  and  the  true  Spirit-filled  word 
gets  mastery  of  his  whole  being,  he  be- 
comes a  man  of  God,  complete  and  fur- 
nished completely  to  every  good  work.  He 
becomes  a  workman  approved  of  God,  who 
needs  not  to  be  ashamed,  rightly  handling 
the  word  of  God.  And  so  the  man  of  God 
has  the  double  mark — his  own  life  wholly 
moulded  by  the  Spirit-breathed  word — and 
his  whole  work  directed  by  his  rightly  hand- 
ling that  word. 

'  That  the  man  of  God  may  be  complete, 
thoroughly  furnished  unto  every  good 
work/  In  our  previous  meditation  we 
learnt  how  in  the  cleansing  and  sanctification 
of  the  personal  life  the  worker  becomes  a 
vessel  meet  for  the  Master's  use,  prepared 
unto  every  good  work.  Here  we  learn  the 
same  lesson — it  is  the  man  of  God  who  al- 
lows God's  word  to  do  its  work  of  reprov- 
ing and  correcting  and  instructing  in  his 
own  life  who  will  be  complete,  completely 
furnished  unto  every  good  work.  Complete 
equipment  and  readiness  for  every  good 
work — that  is  what  every  worker  for  God 
must  aim  at. 

If  any  worker,  conscious  of  how  defect- 
ive his  preparation  is,  ask  how  this  com- 
plete furnishing  for  every  good  work  is  to 
be  attained,  the  analogy  of  an  earthly  work- 


Working  for  God  107 

man,  who  needs  not  be  ashamed,  suggests 
the  answer.  He  would  tell  us  that  he  owes 
his  success,  first  of  all,  to  devotion  to  his 
work.  He  gave  it  his  close  attention.  He 
left  other  things  to  concentrate  his  efforts 
on  mastering  one  thing.  He  made  it  a  life- 
study  to  do  his  work  perfectly.  They  who 
would  do  Christ's  work  as  a  second  thing, 
not  as  the  first,  and  who  are  not  willing  to 
sacrifice  all  for  it,  will  never  be  complete  or 
completely  furnished  to  every  good  work. 

The  second  thing  he  will  speak  of  will  be 
patient  training  and  exercise.  Proficiency 
only  comes  through  painstaking  effort.  You 
may  feel  as  if  you  know  not  how  or  what 
to  work  aright.  Fear  not — all  learning  be- 
gins with  ignorance  and  mistakes.  Be  of 
good  courage.  He  who  has  endowed 
human  nature  with  the  wonderful  power 
that  has  filled  the  world  with  such  skilled 
and  cunning  workmen,  will  He  not  much 
more  give  His  children  the  grace  they  need 
to  be  His  fellow-workers?  Let  the  neces- 
sity that  is  laid  upon  you — the  necessity 
that  you  should  glorify  God,  that  you 
should  bless  the  world,  that  you  should 
through  work  ennoble  and  perfect  your  life 
and  blessedness,  urge  you  to  give  immedi- 
ate and  continual  diligence  to  be  a  work- 
man completely  furnished  unto  every  good 
work. 


io8  Working  for  God 

It  is  only  in  doing  we  learn  to  do  aright. 
Begin  working  under  Christ's  training;  He 
will  perfect  His  work  in  you,  and  so  lit  you 
for  your  work  for  Him. 

1.  The  work  God  is  doing,  and  seeking  to  have 
done  in  the  world,  is  to  win  it  back  to  Himself. 

2.  In  this  work  every  believer  is  expected  to 
take  part. 

3.  God  wants  us  to  be  skilled  workmen,  who 
give  our  whole  heart  to  His  work,  and  delight 
in  it. 

4.  God  does  His  work  by  working  in  us,  in- 
spiring and  strengthening  us  to  do  His  work. 

5.  What  God  asks  is  a  heart  and  life  devoted 
to  Him  in  surrender  and  faith. 

6.  As  God's  work  is  all  love,  love  is  the  power 
that  works  in  us,  inspiring  our  efforts  and  con- 
quering its  object. 


XXI 
Zealous  ot  6oob  MorRs 

*  He  gave  Himself  for  us,  that  He  might  redeem 
us  from  all  iniquity,  and  purify  us  for  Himself, 
a  people  of  His  own,  zealous  of  good  works.' — 
Tit.  ii.  14. 

IN  these  words  we  have  two  truths — what 
Christ  has  done  to  make  us  His  own, 
and  what  He  expects  of  us.  In  the  former 
we  have  a  rich  and  beautiful  summary  of 
Christ's  work  for  us :  He  gave  Himself  for 
lis,  He  redeemed  us  from  all  iniquity.  He 
cleansed  us  for  Himself,  He  took  us  for  a 
people,  for  His  own  possession.  And  all 
with  the  one  object,  that  we  should  be  a 
people  zealous  of  good  zcorks.  The  doc- 
trinal half  of  this  wonderful  passage  has 
had  much  attention  bestowed  on  it;  let  us 
devote  our  attention  to  its  practical  part — 
we  are  to  be  a  people  zealous  of  good  works. 
Christ  expects  of  us  that  v/e  shall  be  zealots 
for  good  works — ardently,  enthusiastically 
devoted  to  their  performance. 

This  cannot  be  said  to  be  the  feeling  with 
which  most  Christians  regard  good  works. 

109 


no  Working  for  God 

What  can  be  done  to  cultivate  this  dispo- 
sition ?  One  of  the  first  things  that  wakens 
zeal  in  work  is  a  great  and  urgent  sense  of 
need.  A  great  need  wakens  strong  desire, 
stirs  the  heart  and  the  will,  rouses  all  the 
energies  of  our  being.  It  was  this  sense  of 
need  that  roused  many  to  be  zealous  of  the 
law ;  they  hoped  their  works  would  save 
them.  The  Gospel  has  robbed  this  motive 
of  its  power.  Has  it  taken  away  entirely 
the  need  of  good  works?  No,  indeed,  it 
has  given  that  urgent  need  a  higher  place 
than  before.  Christ  needs,  needs  urgently, 
our  good  works.  We  are  His  servants,  the 
members  of  His  body,  without  whom  He 
cannot  possibly  carry  on  His  work  on  earth. 
The  work  is  so  great — with  the  hundreds 
of  millions  of  the  unsaved — the  work  is  so 
great,  that  not  one  worker  can  be  spared. 
There  are  thousands  of  Christians  to-day 
who  feel  that  their  own  business  is  urgent, 
and  must  be  attended  to,  and  have  no  con- 
ception of  the  urgency  of  Christ's  work 
committed  to  them.  The  Church  must 
waken  up  to  teach  each  believer  this. 

As  urgently  as  Christ  needs  our  good 
works  the  world  needs  them.  There  are 
around  you  men  and  women  and  children 
who  need  saving.  To  see  men  swept  down 
past  us  in  a  river,  stirs  our  every  power 
to  try  and  save  them.     Christ  has  placed 


Working  for  God  1 1 1 

His  people  in  a  perishing  world,  with  the 
expectation  that  they  will  give  themselves, 
heart  and  soul,  to  carry  on  His  work  of 
love.  Oh !  let  us  sound  forth  the  blessed 
Gospel  message :  He  gave  Himself  for  us 
that  He  might  redeem  us  for  Himself,  a 
people  of  His  own,  to  serve  Him  and  carry 
on  His  work — zealous  of  good  works. 

A  second  great  element  of  zeal  in  work 
is  delight  in  it.  An  apprentice  or  a  student 
mostly  begins  his  work  under  a  sense  of 
duty.  As  he  learns  to  understand  and 
enjoy  it,  he  does  it  with  pleasure,  and  be- 
comes zealous  in  its  performance.  The 
Church  must  train  Christians  to  believe  that 
when  once  we  give  our  hearts  to  it,  and  seek 
for  the  training  that  makes  us  in  some  de- 
gree skilled  workmen,  there  is  no  greater 
joy  than  that  of  sharing  in  Christ's  work 
of  mercy  and  beneficence.  As  physical  and 
mental  activity  give  pleasure,  and  call  for 
the  devotion  and  zeal  of  thousands,  the 
spiritual  service  of  Christ  can  waken  our 
highest  enthusiasm. 

Then  comes  the  highest  motive,  the  per- 
sonal one  of  attachment  to  Christ  our  Re- 
deemer :  *  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth 
us.'  The  love  of  Christ  to  us  is  the  source 
and  measure  of  our  love  to  Him.  Our  love 
to  Him  becomes  the  power  and  the  measure 
of  our  love  to  souls.    This  love,  shed  abroad 


112  Working  for  God 

in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  this  love  as 
a  Divine  communication,  renewed  in  us  by 
the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost  day  by  day, 
becomes  a  zeal  for  Christ  that  shows  itself 
as  a  zeal  for  good  works.  It  becomes  the 
link  that  unites  the  two  parts  of  our  text, 
the  doctrinal  and  the  practical,  into  one. 
Christ's  love,  that  gave  Himself  for  us,  that 
redeemed  us  from  all  iniquity,  that  cleansed 
us  for  Himself,  that  made  us  a  people  of 
His  own  in  the  bonds  of  an  everlasting 
loving  kindness,  that  love  believed  in, 
known,  received  into  the  heart,  makes  the 
redeemed  soul  of  necessity  zealous  in  good 
works. 

'Zealous  of  good  works!'  Let  no  be- 
liever, the  youngest,  the  feeblest,  look  upon 
this  grace  as  too  high.  It  is  Divine,  pro- 
vided for  and  assured  in  the  love  of  our 
Lord.  Let  us  accept  it  as  our  calling.  Let 
us  be  sure  it  is  the  very  nature  of  the  new 
life  within  us.  Let  us,  in  opposition  to  all 
that  nature  or  feeling  may  say,  in  faith 
claim  it  as  an  integral  part  of  our  redemp- 
tion— Christ  Himself  will  make  it  true  in 
us. 


XXII 

IReaC)^  to  ever^  Goo&  Mot?? 

*  Put  them  in  mind  to  be  ready  to  every  good 
work.' — Tit.  iii.  i. 

^  pUT  them  in  mind.'  The  words  sug- 
A  gest  the  need  of  believers  to  have 
the  truths  of  their  calHng  to  good  works 
ever  again  set  before  them.  A  healthy  tree 
spontaneously  bears  its  fruit.  Even  where 
the  life  of  the  believer  is  in  perfect  health, 
Scripture  teaches  us  how  its  growth  and 
fruitfulness  only  come  through  teaching, 
and  the  influence  that  exerts  on  mind  and 
will  and  heart.  For  all  who  have  charge 
of  others  the  need  is  great  of  Divine  wis- 
dom and  faithfulness  to  teach  and  train  all 
Christians,  specially  young  and  feeble 
Christians,  to  be  ready  to  every  good  work. 
Let  us  consider  some  of  the  chief  points  of 
such  training. 

Teach  them  clearly  what  good  works  are. 
Lay  the  foundation  in  the  will  of  God,  as 
revealed  in  the  law.  and  show  them  how 
integrity  and  righteousness  and  obedience 

113 


114  Working  for  God 

are  the  groundwork  of  Christian  character. 
Teach  them  how  in  all  the  duties  and  rela- 
tionships of  daily  life  true  religion  is  to  b^ 
carried  out.  Lead  them  on  to  the  virtues 
which  Jesus  specially  came  to  exhibit  and 
teach — humility,  meekness  and  gentleness 
and  love.  Open  out  to  them  the  meaning  oi 
a  life  of  love,  self-sacrifice,  and  beneficence 
— entirely  given  to  think  of  and  care  for 
others.  And  then  carry  them  on  to  what 
is  the  highest,  the  true  life  of  good  works — 
the  winning  of  men  to  know  and  love  God. 
Teach  them  zvhat  an  essential  part  of  the 
Christian  life  good  works  are.  They  are 
not,  as  many  think,  a  secondary  element  in 
the  salvation  which  God  gives.  They  are 
not  merely  to  be  done  in  token  of  our  grati- 
tude, or  as  a  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  our 
faith,  or  as  a  preparation  for  heaven.  They 
are  all  this,  but  they  are  a  great  deal  more. 
They  are  the  very  object  for  which  we  have 
been  redeemed :  we  have  been  created  anew 
unto  good  works.  They  alone  are  the  evi- 
dence that  man  has  been  restored  to  his 
original  destiny  of  working  as  God  works, 
and  with  God,  and  because  God  works 
through  him.  God  has  no  higher  glory 
than  His  works,  and  specially  His  work  of 
saving  love.  In  becoming  imitators  of  God, 
and  walking  and  working  in  love,  even  as 
Christ  loved  us  and  gave  Himself  for  us, 


Working  for  God  115 

we  have  the  very  image  and  likeness  of 
God  restored  in  us.  The  works  of  a  man 
not  only  reveal  his  life,  they  develop  and 
exercise,  they  strengthen  and  perfect  it. 
Good  works  are  of  the  very  essence  of  the 
Divine  life  in  us. 

Teach  them,  too,  what  a  rich  reward  they 
bring.  All  labour  has  its  market  value. 
From  the  poor  man  who  scarce  can  earn  a 
shilling  a  day,  to  the  man  who  has  made 
his  millions,  the  thought  of  the  reward 
there  is  for  labour  has  been  one  of  the 
great  incentives  to  undertake  it.  Christ 
appeals  to  this  feeling  when  He  says, 
Great  shall  be  your  reward.'  Let  Chris- 
tians understand  that  there  is  no  service 
where  the  reward  is  so  rich  as  that  of  God. 
Work  is  bracing,  work  is  strength,  and  cul- 
tivates the  sense  of  mastery  and  conquest. 
Work  wakens  enthusiasm  and  calls  out  a 
man's  noblest  qualities.  In  a  life  of  good 
works  the  Christian  becomes  conscious  of 
his  Divine  ministry  of  dispensing  the  life 
and  grace  of  God  to  others.  They  bring  us 
into  closer  union  with  God.  There  is  no 
higher  fellowship  with  God  than  fellowship 
in  His  saving  work  of  love.  It  brings  us 
into  sympathy  with  Him  and  His  purposes ; 
it  fills  us  with  His  love;  it  secures  His  ap- 
proval. And  great  is  the  reward,  too,  on 
those  around  us.    When  others  are  won  to 


1 1 6  Working  for  God 

Christ,  when  the  weary  and  the  erring  and 
the  desponding  are  helped  and  made  par- 
takers of  the  grace  and  life  there  are  in 
Christ  Jesus  for  them,  God's  servants  share 
in  the  very  joy  m  which  our  blessed  Lord 
found  His  recompense. 

And  now  the  chief  thing.  Teach  them 
to  believe  that  it  is  possible  for  each  of  us 
to  abound  in  good  zvorks.  Nothing  is  so 
fatal  to  successful  effort  as  discourage- 
ment or  despondency.  Nothing  is  more  a 
frequent  cause  of  neglect  of  good  works 
than  the  fear  that  we  have  not  the  power 
to  perform  them.  Put  them  in  mind  of  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in  them. 
Show  them  that  God's  promise  and  pro- 
vision of  strength  is  always  equal  to  what 
He  demands ;  that  there  is  always  grace 
sufficient  for  all  the  good  works  to  which 
we  are  called.  Strive  to  waken  in  them  a 
faith  in  '  the  power  that  worketh  in  us,' 
and  in  the  fulness  of  that  life  which  can 
flow  out  as  rivers  of  living  water.  Train 
them  to  begin  at  once  their  service  of  love. 
Lead  them  to  see  how  it  is  all  God  working 
in  them,  and  to  offer  themselves  as  empty 
vessels  to  be  filled  with  His  love  and  grace. 
And  teach  them  that  as  they  are  faithful 
in  a  little,  even  amid  mistakes  and  short- 
comings,  the   acting   out   of   the  life  will 


Working  for  God  117 

strengthen  the  Hfe  itself,  and  work  for  God 
will  become  in  full  truth  a  second  nature. 

God  grant  that  the  teachers  of  the 
Church  may  be  faithful  to  its  commission 
in  regard  to  all  her  members — '  Put  them 
in  mind  to  be  ready  for  every  good  work.' 
Not  only  teach  them,  but  train  them. 
Show  them  the  work  there  is  to  be  done  by 
them ;  see  that  they  do  it ;  encourage  and 
help  them  to  do  it  hopefully.  There  is  no 
part  of  the  office  of  a  pastor  more  impor- 
tant or  more  sacred  than  this,  or  fraught 
with  richer  blessing.  Let  the  aim  be 
nothing  less  than  to  lead  every  believer  to 
live  entirely  devoted  to  the  work  of  God 
in  winning  men  to  Him.  What  a  change 
it  would  make  in  the  Church  and  the  world ! 


1.  Get  a  firm  hold  of  the  great  root-principle. 
Every  believer,  every  member  of  Christ's  body, 
has  his  place  in  the  body  solely  for  the  welfare  of 
the  whole  body. 

2.  Pastors  have  been  given  for  the  perfecting  of 
the  saints  with  the  work  of  ministering,  of  serving 
in  love. 

3.  In  ministers  and  members  of  the  churches, 
Christ  will  work  mightily  if  they  will  wait  upon 
Him. 


XXIII 

Careful  to  maintatn  (Boo^  TKIlorF?s 

*  I  will  that  thou  affirm  these  things  confidently, 
to  the  end  that  they  which  have  believed  God  may 
be  careful  to  maintain  good  zvorks.  Let  our  peo- 
ple also  leant  to  maintain  good  works  for  neces- 
sary uses,  that  they  be  not  unfruitful.' — Tit.  iii. 
8,  14. 

IN  the  former  of  these  passages  Paul 
charges  Titus  confidently  to  affirm  the 
truths  of  the  blessed  Gospel  to  the  end, 
with  the  express  object  that  all  who  had 
believed  should  be  careful,  should  make  a 
study  of  it,  to  maintain  good  zvorks.  Faith 
and  good  works  were  to  be  inseparable ;  the 
diligence  of  every  believer  in  good  works 
was  to  be  a  main  aim  of  a  pastor's  work. 
In  the  second  passage  he  reiterates  the  in- 
struction, with  the  expression,  let  them 
learn,  suggesting  the  thought  that,  as  all 
work  on  earth  has  to  be  learned,  so  in  the 
good  works  of  the  Christian  life  there  is 
an  equal  need  of  thought  and  application 
and  teachableness,  to  learn  how  to  do  them 
aright  and  abundantly. 
118 


Working  for  God  119 

There  may  be  more  than  one  reader  of 
this  Httle  book  who  has  felt  how  Httle  he 
has  Hved  in  accordance  with  all  the  teach- 
ing of  God's  word,  prepared,  thoroughly 
furnished,  ready  unto,  zealous  of  good 
works.  It  appears  so  difficult  to  get  rid  of 
old  habits,  to  break  through  the  conven- 
tionalities of  society,  to  know  how  to  begin 
and  really  enter  upon  a  life  that  can  be 
full  of  good  works,  to  the  glory  of  God. 
Let  me  try  and  give  some  suggestions  that 
may  be  helpful.  They  may  also  aid  those 
who  have  the  training  of  Christian  workers, 
in  showing  in  what  way  the  teaching  and 
learning  of  good  works  may  best  succeed. 
Come,  young  workers  all,  and  listen. 

I.  A  learner  must  begin  by  beginning  to 
work  at  once.  There  is  no  w^ay  of  learning 
an  art  like  swimming  or  music,  a  new  lan- 
guage or  a  trade,  but  by  practice.  Let 
neither  the  fear  that  you  cannot  do  it,  nor 
the  hope  that  something  will  happen  that 
will  make  it  easier  for  you,  keep  you  back. 
Learn  to  do  good  works,  the  works  of  love, 
by  beginning  to  do  them.  However  insig- 
nificant they  appear,  do  them.  A  kind 
word,  a  little  help  to  some  one  in  trouble, 
an  act  of  loving  attention  to  a  stranger  or  a 
poor  man,  the  sacrifice  of  a  seat  or  a  place 
to  some  one  who  longs  for  it — practise 
these  things.     All  plants  we  cultivate  are 


I20  Working  for  God 

small  at  first.  Cherish  the  consciousness 
that,  for  Jesus'  sake,  you  are  seeking  to  do 
what  would  please  Him.  It  is  only  in 
doing  you  can  learn  to  do. 

2.  The  learner  must  give  his  heart  to  the 
work,  must  take  interest  and  pleasure  in  it. 
Delight  in  work  ensures  success.  Let  the 
tens  of  thousands  around  you  in  the  world 
who  throw  their  whole  soul  into  their  daily 
business,  teach  you  how  to  serve  your 
blessed  Master.  Think  sometimes  of  the 
honour  and  privilege  of  doing  good  works, 
of  serving  others  in  love.  It  is  God's  own 
work,  to  love  and  save  and  bless  men.  He 
works  it  in  you  and  through  you.  It  makes 
you  share  the  spirit  and  likeness  of  Christ. 
It  strengthens  your  Christian  character. 
Without  actions,  intentions  lower  and  con- 
demn a  man  instead  of  raising  him.  Only 
as  much  as  you  act  out,  do  you  really  live. 
Think  of  the  Godlike  blessedness  of  doing 
good,  of  communicating  life,  of  making 
happy.  Think  of  the  exquisite  joy  of 
growing  up  into  a  life  of  beneficence,  and 
being  the  blessing  of  all  you  meet.  Set 
your  heart  upon  being  a  vessel  meet  for 
the  Master's  use,  ready  to  every  good 
work. 

3.  Be  of  good  courage,  and  fear  not.  The 
learner  who  says  I  cannot,  will  surely  fail. 
There  is  a  Divine  power  working  in  you. 


Working  for  God  121 

Study  and  believe  what  God's  word  says 
about  it.  Let  the  holy  self-reliance  of  St. 
Paul,  grounded  on  his  reliance  on  Christ, 
be  your  example:  I  can  do  all  things — in 
Christ  which  strengtheneth  me.  Study  and 
take  home  to  yourself  the  wonderful  prom- 
ises about  the"  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
abundance  of  grace,  Christ's  strength  made 
perfect  in  weakness,  and  see  how  all  this 
can  only  be  made  true  to  you  in  working. 
Cultivate  the  noble  consciousness  that  as 
you  have  been  created  to  good  works  by 
God,  He  Himself  will  fit  you  for  them. 
And  believe  then  that  just  as  natural  as  it 
is  to  any  workman  to  delight  and  succeed 
in  his  profession,  it  can  be  to  the  new 
nature  in  you  to  abound  in  every  good 
work.  Having  this  confidence,  you  need 
never  faint. 

4.  Above  all,  cling  to  your  Lord  Jesus  as 
your  Teacher  and  Master.  He  said: 
'  Learn  of  Me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  of 
heart,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  to  your  souls.' 
Work  as  one  who  is  a  learner  in  His  school, 
who  is  sure  that  none  teaches  like  Him, 
and  is  therefore  confident  of  success.  Cling 
to  Him,  and  let  a  sense  of  His  presence 
and  His  power  working  in  you  make  you 
meek  and  lowly,  and  yet  bold  and  strong. 
He  who  came  to  do  the  Father's  work  on 
earth,  and  found  it  the  path  to  the  Father's 


122  Working  for  God 

glory,  will  teach  you  what  it  is  to  work  for 
God. 


To  sum  up  again,  for  the  sake  of  any  who  want 
to  learn  how  to  work,  or  how  to  work  better : 

1.  Yield  yourself  to  Christ.  Lay  yourself  on 
the  altar,  and  say  you  wish  to  give  yourself  wholly 
to  live  for  God's  work. 

2.  Believe  quietly  that  Christ  accepts  and  takes 
charge  of  you  for  His  work,  and  will  fit  you  for 
it. 

3.  Pray  much  that  God  would  open  to  you  the 
great  truth  of  His  own  working  in  you.  Nothing 
else  can  give  true  strength. 

4.  Seek  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  humble,  patient, 
trustful  dependence  upon  God.  Live  in  loving 
fellowship  with  Christ,  and  obedience  to  Him. 
You  can  count  upon  His  strength  being  made  per- 
fect in  your  weakness. 


XXIV 

^5  Ibis  ffeUow*'CClor??ers 

'  We  are  God's  fellow-zvorkers:  ye  are  God's 
building.' — i  Cor.  iii  9. 

'  And  ijorking  together  ivith  Him  we  intreat 
also  that  ye  receive  not  the  grace  of  God  in  vain.' 
— 2  Cor.  vi.  i. 

WE  have  listened  to  Paul's  teaching  on 
good  works  (chaps.  IX.-XXII.)  ; 
let  us  turn  now  to  his  personal  experience. 
and  see  if  we  can  learn  from  him  some  of 
the  secrets  of  eflfective  service. 

He  speaks  here  of  the  Church  as  God's 
building,  which,  as  the  Great  Architect,  He 
is  building  up  into  a  holy  temple  and  dwell- 
ing for  Himself.  Of  his  own  work,  Paul 
speaks  as  of  that  of  a  master  builder,  to 
whom  a  part  of  the  great  building  has  been 
given  in  charge.  He  had  laid  a  foundation 
in  Corinth ;  to  all  who  were  working  there 
he  said :  '  Let  each  man  take  heed  how  he 
buildeth  thereon.'  '  V/e  are  God's  fellow- 
workers.'  The  word  is  applicable  not  only 
to  Paul,  but  to  all  God's  servants  who  take 
part  in  His  work;  and  because  ever^^  be- 
123 


124  Working  for  God 

liever  has  been  called  to  give  his  life  to 
God's  service  and  to  win  others  to  His 
knowledge,  every,  even  the  feeblest,  Chris- 
tian needs  to  have  the  word  brought  to  him 
and  taken  home :  *  We  are  God's  fellow- 
workers.'  How  much  it  suggests  in  regard 
to  our  working  for  God ! 

As  to  the  zvork  zve  have  to  do. — The  eter- 
nal God  is  building  for  Himself  a  temple; 
Christ  Jesus,  God's  Son,  is  the  foundation ; 
believers  are  the  living  stones.  The  Holy 
Spirit  is  the  mighty  power  of  God  through 
which  believers  are  gathered  out  of  the 
world  made  fit  for  their  place  in  the  tem- 
ple, and  built  up  into  it.  As  living  stones, 
believers  are  at  the  same  time  the  living 
workmen,  whom  God  uses  to  carry  out  His 
work.  They  are  equally  God's  workman- 
ship and  God's  fellow-workers.  The  work 
God  is  doing  He  does  through  them.  The 
work  they  have  to  do  is  the  very  work  God 
is  doing.  God's  own  work,  in  which  He  de- 
lights, on  which  His  heart  is  set,  is  saving 
men  and  building  them  into  His  temple. 
This  is  the  one  work  on  which  the  heart  of 
every  one  who  would  be  a  fellow-worker 
with  God  must  be  set.  It  is  only  as  we 
know  how  great,  how  wonderful,  this  work 
of  God  is — giving  life  to  dead  souls,  im- 
parting His  own  life  to  them,  and  living 
in  them — that  we  shall  enter  somewhat  into 


Working  for  God  125 

the  glory  of  our  work,  receiving  the  very 
Ufe  of  God  from  Him,  and  passing  it  on  to 
men. 

As  to  the  strength  for  the  zvork. — Paul 
says  of  his  work  as  a  mere  master  builder, 
that  it  was  '  according  to  the  grace  of  God 
which  was  given  me.'  For  Divine  work 
nothing  but  Divine  power  suffices.  The 
power  by  which  God  works  must  work  in 
us.  That  power  is  His  Holy  Spirit.  Study 
the  second  chapter  of  this  Epistle,  and  the 
third  of  the  Second,  and  see  how  absolute 
was  Paul's  acknowledgment  of  his  own  im- 
potence, and  his  dependence  on  the  teaching 
and  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  As  this 
great  truth  begins  to  live  in  the  hearts  of 
God's  workers,  that  God's  work  can  only 
be  done  by  God's  power  in  us,  we  shall  feel 
that  our  first  need  every  day  is  to  have 
the  presence  of  God's  Spirit  renewed  within 
us.  The  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
power  of  love.  God  is  love.  All  He  works 
for  the  salvation  of  men  is  love ;  it  is  love 
alone  that  truly  conquers  and  wins  the 
heart.  In  all  God's  fellow-workers  love  is 
the  power  that  reaches  the  hearts  of  men. 
Christ  conquered  and  conquers  still  by  the 
love  of  the  cross.  Let  that  mind  be  in  you, 
O  worker,  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus,  the 
spirit  of  a  love  that  sacrifices  itself  to  the 
death,   of  a  humble,   patient,  gentle   love. 


126  Working  for  God 

and  you  will  be   made   meet   to  be   God's 
fellow-worker. 

As  to  the  relation  zve  are  to  hold  to  God. 
— In  executing  the  plans  of  some  great 
building  the  master  builder  has  but  one 
care — to  carry  out  to  the  minutest  detail  the 
thoughts  of  the  architect  who  designed  it. 
He  acts  in  constant  consultation  with  him, 
and  is  guided  in  all  by  his  will;  and  his 
instructions  to  those  under  him  have  all 
reference  to  the  one  thing — the  embodi- 
ment, in  visible  shape,  of  what  the  master 
mind  has  conceived.  The  one  great  charac- 
teristic of  fellow-workers  with  God  ought 
to  be  that  of  absolute  surrender  to  His  will, 
unceasing  dependence  on  His  teaching, 
exact  obedience  to  His  wishes.  God  has 
revealed  His  plan  in  His  Word.  He  has 
told  us  that  His  Spirit  alone  can  enable  us 
to  enter  into  His  plans,  and  fully  master 
His  purpose  with  the  way  he  desires  to  have 
it  carried  out.  The  clearer  our  insight  into 
the  Divine  glory  of  God's  work  of  saving 
souls,  into  the  utter  insufficiency  of  our 
natural  powers  to  do  the  work,  into  the 
provision  that  has  been  made  by  which  the 
Divine  love  can  animate  us,  and  the  Divine 
Spirit  guide  and  strengthen  us  for  its  due 
performance,  the  more  we  shall  feel  that  a 
childHke  teachableness,  a  continual  looking 
upward  and  waiting  on  God,  is  ever  to  be 


Working  for  God  127 

the  chief  mark  of  one  who  is  His  fellow- 
labourer.  Out  of  the  sense  of  humility, 
helplessness,  and  nothingness  there  will 
grow  a  holy  confidence  and  courage  that 
knows  that  our  weakness  need  not  hinder 
us,  that  Christ's  strength  is  made  perfect  in 
weakness,  that  God  Himself  is  working  out 
His  purpose  through  us.  And  of  all  the 
blessings  of  the  Christian  life,  the  most 
wonderful  will  be  that  we  are  allowed  to 
be — God's  fellow-workers ! 

1.  God's  fellow-worker !  How  easy  to  use  the 
word,  and  even  to  apprehend  some  of  the  great 
truths  it  contains !  How  little  we  live  in  the 
power  and  the  glory  of  what  it  actually  involves ! 

2.  Fellow-workers  with  God !  Everything  de- 
pends upon  knowing,  in  His  holiness  and  love,  the 
God  with  whom  we  are  associated  as  partners. 

3.  He  who  has  chosen  us,  that  in  and  through 
us  He  might  do  His  great  work,  will  fit  us  for 
His  use. 

4.  Let  our  posture  be  adoring  worship,  deep  de- 
pendence, great  waiting,  full  obedience. 


XXV 

HccorMrtG  to  tbe  TKIlorF?tna  of  1bt0 
IPower 

'  Whom  we  preach,  warning  every  man,  and 
teaching:  every  man,  that  we  may  present  every 
man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus;  whereunto  I  also 
labour,  striving  according  to  His  working,  which 
worketh  in  me  mightily.' — Col.  i.  29. 

'  The  mystery  of  Christ,  whereof  I  was  made  a 
minister,  according  to  the  gift  of  that  grace  of  God 
which  was  given  me  according  to  the  working  of 
His  power.' — Eph.  iii.  7. 

IN  the  words  of  Paul  to  the  Philippians, 
which  we  have  already  considered 
(Chap.  IX.),  in  which  he  called  upon  them 
and  encouraged  them  to  work,  because  it 
was  God  who  worked  in  them,  we  found 
one  of  the  most  pregnant  and  comprehen- 
sive statements  of  the  great  truth  that  it  is 
only  by  God's  working  in  us  that  we  can  do 
true  work.  In  our  texts  for  this  chapter 
we  have  Paul's  testimony  as  to  his  own 
experience.  His  whole  ministry  was  to  be 
according  to  the  grace  which  was  given  him 
according  to  the  working  of  God's  power. 

128 


Working  for  God  129 

And  of  his  labour  he  says  that  it  was  a 
striving  according  to  the  power  of  Him 
who  worked  mightily  in  him. 

We  find  here  the  same  principle  we  found 
in  our  Lord — the  Father  doing  the  works 
in  Him.  Let  every  worker  who  reads  this 
pause,  and  say — If  the  ever-blessed  Son,  if 
the  Apostle  Paul,  could  only  do  their  work 
according  to  the  working  of  His  power 
who  worked  in  them  mightily,  how  much 
more  do  I  need  this  working  of  God  in  me, 
to  fit  me  for  doing  His  work  aright.  This 
is  one  of  the  deepest  spiritual  truths  of 
God's  word ;  let  us  look  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
w^ithin  us  to  give  it  such  a  hold  of  our  in- 
most life,  that  it  may  become  the  deepest 
inspiration  of  all  our  work.  I  can  only  do 
true  work  as  I  yield  myself  to  God  to  work 
in  me. 

We  know  the  ground  on  which  this  truth 
rests, '  There  is  none  good  but  God  ' ;  *  There 
is  none  holy  but  the  Lord ' ;  '  Power  be- 
longeth  unto  God.'  All  goodness  and  holi- 
ness and  power  are  only  to  be  found  in  God, 
and  where  He  gives  them.  And  He  can 
only  give  them  in  the  creature,  not  as 
something  He  parts  with,  but  by  His  own 
actual  presence  and  dwelling  and  working. 
And  so  God  can  only  work  in  His  people 
in  as  far  as  He  is  allowed  to  have  complete 
possession  of  the  heart  and  life.     As  our 


130  Working  for  God 

will  and  life  and  love  are  yielded  up  in  de- 
pendence and  faith,  and  God  is  waited  on 
to  keep  possession  and  to  abide,  even  as 
Christ  waited  on  Him,  God  can  work  in  us. 

This  is  true  of  all  our  spiritual  life,  but 
specially  of  our  work  for  God.  The  work 
of  saving  souls  is  God's  own  work:  none 
but  He  can  do  it.  The  gift  of  His  Son  is 
the  proof  of  how  great  and  precious  He 
counts  the  work,  and  how  His  heart  is, set 
upon  it.  His  love  never  for  one  moment 
ceases  working  for  the  salvation  of  men. 
And  when  He  calls  His  children  to  be  part- 
ners in  His  work,  He  shares  with  them  the 
joy  and  the  glory  of  the  work  of  saving 
and  blessing  men.  He  promises  to  work 
His  work  through  them,  inspiring  and  ener- 
gising them  by  His  power  working  in  them. 
To  him  who  can  say  with  Paul :  '  I  labour, 
striving  according  to  His  power  who  work- 
eth  in  me  mightily,'  his  whole  relation  to 
God  becomes  the  counterpart  and  the  con- 
tinuation of  Christ's,  a  blessed,  unceasing, 
momentary,  and  most  absolute  dependence 
on  the  Father  for  every  word  He  spoke  and 
every  work  He  did. 

Christ  is  our  pattern.  Christ's  life  is  our 
law  and  works  in  us.  Christ  lived  in  Paul 
his  life  of  dependence  on  God.  Why 
should  any  of  us  hesitate  to  believe  that  the 
grace  given  to  Paul  of  labouring  and  striv- 


Working  for  God  131 

ing  '  according  to  the  working  of  the  power  ' 
will  be  given  to  us  too.  Let  every  worker 
learn  to  say — As  the  power  that  worked  in 
Christ  worked  in  Paul  too,  that  power 
works  no  less  in  me.  There  is  no  possible 
way  of  working  God's  work  aright,  but  by 
God  working  it  in  us. 

How  I  wish  that  I  could  take  every 
worker  who  reads  this  by  the  hand,  and 
say — Come,  my  brother!  let  us  quiet  our 
minds,  and  hush  every  thought  in  God's 
presence,  as  I  whisper  in  your  ears  the  won- 
derful secret :  God  is  working  in  you.  All 
the  work  you  have  to  do  for  Him,  God  will 
work  in  yoti.  Take  time  and  think  it  over. 
It  is  a  deep  spiritual  truth  which  the  mind 
cannot  grasp  nor  the  heart  realise.  Accept 
it  as  a  Divine  truth  from  heaven;  believe 
that  this  word  is  a  seed  out  of  which  can 
grow  the  very  spiritual  blessing  of  which  it 
speaks.  And  in  the  faith  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  making  it  live  within  you,  say  ever 
again:  God  worketh  in  me.  All  the  work 
I  have  to  work  for  Him,  God  will  work  in 
me. 

The  faith  of  this  truth,  and  the  desire  to 
have  it  made  true  in  you,  will  constrain  you 
to  live  very  humbly  and  closely  with  God. 
You  will  see  how  work  for  God  must  be 
the  most  spiritual  thing  in  a  spiritual  life. 
And  you  will  ever  anew  bow  in  holy  stilK 


132  Working  for  God 

ness:  God  is  working;  God  will  work  in 
me;  I  will  work  for  Him  according  to  the 
power  which  worketh  in  me  mightily. 

1.  The  gift  of  the  grace  of  God  (Eph.  ii.  7,  iii. 
7),  the  power  that  worketh  in  us  (Eph.  iii.  20), 
the  strengthening  with  might  by  the  Spirit  (Eph. 
iii.  16), — the  three  expressions  all  contain  the  same 
thought  of  God's  working  all  in  us. 

2.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  power  of  God.  Seek 
to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit,  to  have  your  whole  life 
led  by  Him,  and  you  will  become  fit  for  God's 
working  mightily  in  you. 

3.  *  Ye  shall  receive  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  coming  on  you.'  Through  the  Spirit  dwell- 
ing in  us  God  can  work  in  us  mightily. 

4.  What  holy  fear,  what  humble  watchfulness 
and  dependence,  what  entire  surrender  and  obedi- 
ence become  us  if  we  believe  in  God's  working  in 
us. 


XAVi 

Xabouring  more  Hbunt)antl^ 

*  By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am :  and  His 
grace  which  was  bestowed  on  me  was  not  in 
vain;  but  I  laboured  more  abundantly  than  they 
all:  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  which  was 
with  me.' — i  Cor.  xv.  id. 

'  And  He  hath  said  unto  me.  My  grace  is  suffi- 
cient for  thee:  for  My  power  is  made  perfect  in 
weakness.  ...  In  nothing  was  I  behind  the 
chief  est  of  the  apostles,  though  I  am  nothing.'  — 
2  Cor.  xii.  9,  II. 

IN  both  of  these  passages  Paul  speaks  of 
how  he  had  abounded  in  the  work  of 
the  Lord.  '  In  nothing  was  I  behind  the 
chiefest  of  the  Apostles.'  '  1  laboured  more 
abundantly  than  they  all.'  In  both  he  tells 
how  entirely  it  was  all  of  God,  who  worked 
in  Him,  and  not  of  himself.  In  the  first  he 
says :  *  Not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  which 
was  with  me.'  And  then  in  the  second, 
showing  how  this  grace  is  Christ's  strength 
working  in  us,  while  we  are  nothing,  he 
tells  us :  *  He  said  unto  me :  My  grace  is 
sufficient  for  thee :  My  power  is  made  per- 
fect in  weakness.'  May  God  give  us  *the 
133 


134  Working  for  God 

Spirit  of  revelation,  enlightened  eyes  of  the 
heart/  to  see  this  wonderful  vision,  a  man 
who  knows  himself  to  be  nothing,  glorying 
in  his  weakness,  that  the  power  of  Christ 
may  rest  on  him,  and  work  through  him, 
and  who  so  labours  more  abundantly  than 
all.  What  does  this  teach  us  as  workers 
for  God. 

God's  work  can  only  be  done  in  God's 
strength. — It  is  only  by  God's  power,  that  is, 
by  God  Himself  working  in  us,  that  we  can 
do  effective  work.  Throughout  this  little 
book  this  truth  has  been  frequently  repeated. 
It  is  easy  to  accept  of  it ;  it  is  far  from  easy 
to  see  its  full  meaning,  to  give  it  the  mas- 
tery over  our  whole  being,  to  live  it  out. 
This  will  need  stillness  of  soul,  and  medita- 
tion, strong  faith  and  fervent  prayer.  As 
it  is  God  alone  who  can  work  in  us,  it  is 
equally  God  who  alone  can  reveal  Himself 
as  the  God  who  works  in  us.  Wait  on  Him, 
and  the  truth  that  ever  appears  to  be  be- 
yond thy  reach  will  be  opened  up  to  thee, 
through  the  knowledge  of  who  and  what 
God  is.  When  God  reveals  Himself  as 
'  God  who  worketh  all  in  all/  thou  wilt 
learn  to  believe  and  work  '  according  to  the 
power  of  Him  who  worketh  in  thee 
mightily.' 

God's  strength  can  only  work  in  zveak- 
ness. — It  is  only  when  we  truly  say,  Not  II 


Working  for  God  135 

that  we  can  fully  say,  but  the  grace  of  God 
with  me.  The  man  who  said,  In  nothing 
behind  the  chief  est  of  the  Apostles!  had  first 
learnt  to  say,  though  I  am  nothing.  He 
could  say :  *  I  take  pleasure  in  weaknesses, 
for  when  I  am  weak  then  am  I  strong.' 
This  is  the  true  relation  between  the  Crea- 
tor and  the  creature,  between  the  Divine 
Father  and  His  child,  between  God  and  His 
servant.  Christian  worker !  learn  the  lesson 
of  thine  own  weakness,  as  the  indispensable 
condition  of  God's  power  working  in  thee. 
Do  believe  that  to  take  time  and  in  God's 
presence  to  realise  thy  weakness  and  noth- 
ingness is  the  sure  way  to  be  clothed  with 
God's  strength.  Accept  every  experience 
by  which  God  teaches  thee  thy  weakness  as 
His  grace  preparing  thee  to  receive  His 
strength.     Take  pleasure  in  weaknesses ! 

God's  strength  comes  in  our  fellowship 
with  Christ  and  His  service. — Paul  says : 
'  1  will  glory  in  my  weakness,  that  the 
strength  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me.'  '  I 
take  pleasure  in  weaknesses  for  Christ's 
sake.'  And  he  tells  how  it  was  when  he  had 
besought  the  Lord  that  the  messenger  of 
Satan  might  depart  from  him,  that  He  an- 
swered :  '  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee.' 
*  Christ  is  the  wisdom  and  the  power  of 
God.'  We  do  not  receive  the  wisdom  to 
know,  or  the  power  to  do  God's  will  as 


136  Working  for  God 

something  that  we  can  possess  and  use  at 
discretion.  It  is  in  the  personal  attachment 
to  Christ,  in  a  Hfe  of  continual  communica- 
tion with  Him,  that  His  power  rests  on  us. 
It  is  in  taking  pleasure  in  weaknesses  for 
Christ's  sake  that  Christ's  strength  is 
known. 

God's  strength  is  given  to  faith,  and  the 
work  that  is  done  in  faith. — It  needs  a  liv- 
ing faith  to  take  pleasure  in  weaknesses,  and 
in  weakness  to  do  our  work,  knowing  that 
God  is  working  in  us.  Without  seeing  or 
feeling  anything,  to  go  on  in  the  confidence 
of  a  hidden  power  working  in  us — this  is 
the  highest  exercise  of  a  life  of  faith.  To 
do  God's  own  work  in  saving  souls,  in  per- 
severing prayer  and  labour ;  amid  outwardly 
unfavourable  circumstances  and  appear- 
ances still  to  labour  more  abundantly — this 
faith  alone  can  do.  Let  us  be  strong  in 
faith,  giving  glory  to  God.  God  will  show 
Himself  strong  towards  him  whose  heart  is 
perfect  with  Him. 

My  brother!  be  willing  to  yield  yourself 
to  the  very  utmost  to  God,  that  His  power 
may  rest  upon  you,  may  work  in  you.  Do 
let  God  zvork  through  you.  Ofifer  yourself 
to  Him  for  His  work  as  the  one  object  of 
your  life.  Count  upon  His  working  all  in 
you,  to  fit  you  for  His  service,  to  strengthen 
and  bless  you  in  it.    Let  the  faith  and  love 


Working  for  God  137 

of  your  Lord  Jesus,  whose  strength  is  going 
to  be  made  perfect  in  your  weakness,  lead 
you  to  Hve  even  as  He  did,  to  do  the  Father's 
will  and  finish  His  work. 

1.  Let  every  minister  seek  the  full  personal  ex- 
perience of.  Christ's  strength  made  perfect  in  His 
weakness :  this  alone  will  fit  him  to  teach  be- 
lievers the  secret  of  their  strength. 

2.  Our  Lord  says :  '  j\Iy  grace,  My  strength.' 
It  is  as,  in  close  personal  fellowship  and  love,  we 
abide  in  Christ,  and  have  Christ  abiding  in  us, 
that  His  grace  and  strength  can  work. 

3.  It  is  a  heart  wholly  given  up  to  God,  to  His 
will  and  love,  that  will  know  His  power  working 
in  our  weakness. 


XXVII 

.a  2)oer  tbat  worftetb  sball  be  blesse& 
in  Bolna 

'  Be  ye  doers  of  the  word,  and  not  hearers  only, 
deluding  your  own  selves.  He  that  looketh  into 
the  perfect  law,  the  law  of  liberty,  and  so  con- 
tinueth,  being  not  a  hearer  that  forgetteth,  but  a 
doer  that  worketh,  this  man  shall  be  blessed  in 
doing.' — Jas.  i.  22,  25. 

ir^OT)  created  us  not  to  contemplate 
v-J  but  to  act.  He  created  us  in  His 
own  image,  and  in  Him  there  is  no  Thought 
without  simultaneous  Action.'  True  action 
is  born  of  contemplation.  True  contempla- 
tion, as  a  means  to  an  end,  always  begets 
action.  If  sin  had  not  entered  there  had 
never  been  a  separation  between  knowing 
and  doing.  In  nothing  is  the  power  of  sin 
more  clearly  seen  than  this,  that  even  in  the 
believer  there  is  such  a  gap  between  intel- 
lect and  conduct.  It  is  possible  to  delight 
in  hearing,  to  be  diligent  in  increasing  our 
knowledge  of  God's  word,  to  admire  and 
approve  the  truth,  even  to  be  willing  to  do 
it,  and  yet  to  fail  entirely  in  the  actual  per- 

138 


Working  for  God  139 

formance.  Hence  the  warning  of  James, 
not  to  delude  ourselves  with  being  hearers 
and  not  doers.  Hence  his  pronouncing  the 
doer  who  worketh  blessed  in  his  doing. 

Blessed  in  doing. — The  words  are  a  sum- 
mary of  the  teaching  of  our  Lord  Jesus  at 
the  close  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount : 
'  He  that  doeth  the  will  of  My  Father  shall 
enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  *  Every  one 
that  heareth  My  words,  and  doeth  them, 
shall  be  likened  unto  a  wise  man.'  To  the 
woman  who  spoke  of  the  blessedness  of  her 
who  was  his  mother :  '  Yea  rather,  blessed 
are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God  and 
keep  it/  To  the  disciples  in  the  last  night : 
'  If  ye  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if 
ye  do  them/  It  is  one  of  the  greatest  dan- 
gers in  religion  that  we  rest  content  with  the 
pleasure  and  approval  which  a  beautiful 
representation  of  a  truth  calls  forth,  with- 
out the  immediate  performance  of  what  it 
demands.  It  is  only  when  conviction  has 
been  translated  into  conduct  that  we  have 
proof  that  the  truth  is  mastering  us. 

A  doer  that  worketh  shall  be  blessed  in 
doing. — The  doer  is  blessed.  The  doing  is 
the  victory  that  overcomes  every  obstacle; 
it  brings  out  and  confirms  the  very  image  of 
God,  the  Great  Worker;  it  removes  every 
barrier  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  blessing 
God  has  prepared.    We  are  ever  inclined  to 


140  Working  for  God 

seek  our  blessedness  in  what  God  gives,  in 
privilege  and  enjoyment.  Christ  placed  it 
in  what  we  do,  because  it  is  only  in  doing 
that  we  really  prove  and  know  and  possess 
the  life  God  has  bestowed.  When  one  said, 
'  Blessed  is  he  that  shall  eat  bread  in  the 
kingdom  of  God,'  our  Lord  answered  with 
the  parable  of  the  supper,  *  Blessed  is  he 
that  forsakes  all  to  come  to  the  supper.' 
The  doer  is  blessed.  As  surely  as  it  is 
only  in  doing  that  the  painter  or  musi- 
cian, the  man  of  science  or  commerce,  the 
discoverer  or  the  conqueror  find  their 
blessedness,  so,  and  much  more,  is  it  only  in 
keeping  the  commandments  and  in  doing  the 
will  of  God  that  the  believer  enters  fully 
into  the  truth  and  blessedness  of  deliver- 
ance from  sin  and  fellowship  with  God. 
Doing  is  the  very  essence  of  blessedness, 
the  highest  manifestation,  and  therefore  the 
fullest  enjoyment  of  the  life  of  God. 

A  doer  that  workcth  shall  he  blessed  in 
doing. — This  was  the  blessedness  of  Abra- 
ham, of  whom  we  read  (ii.  22}:  *  Thou 
seest  that  faith  wrought  with  his  works,  and 
by  works  was  faith  made  perfect.'  He  had 
no  works  without  faith ;  there  was  faith 
working  with  them  and  in  them  all.  And 
he  had  no  faith  without  works:  through 
them  his  faith  was  exercised  and  strength- 
ened and  perfected.     As  his   faith,   so  his 


Working  for  God  141 

blessedness  was  perfected  in  doing.  It  is 
in  doing  that  the  doer  that  worketh  is 
blessed.  The  true  insight  into  this,  as  a 
Divine  revelation  of  the  true  nature  of  good 
works,  in  perfect  harmony  with  all  our  ex- 
perience in  the  world,  will  make  us  take 
every  command,  and  every  truth,  and  every 
opportunity  to  abound  in  good  works  as  an 
integral  part  of  the  blessedness  of  the  sal- 
vation Christ  has  brought  us.  Joy  and 
work,  work  and  joy,  will  become  synony- 
mous :  we  shall  no  longer  be  hearers  but 
doers. 

Let  us  put  this  truth  into  immediate 
practice.  Let  us  live  for  others,  to  love  and 
serve  them.  Let  not  the  fact  of  our  being 
unused  to  labours  of  love,  or  the  sense  of 
ignorance  and  unfitness,  keep  us  back. 
Only  begin.  If  you  think  you  are  not  able 
to  labour  for  souls,  begin  with  the  bodies. 
Only  begin,  and  go  on,  and  abound.  Be- 
lieve the  word,  It  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  leceive.  Pray  for  and  depend  on 
the  promised  grace.  Give  yourself  to  a 
ministr}^  of  love ;  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  in  the  example  of  Christ,  in  the 
promise  of  God  you  have  the  assurance : 
If  you  know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye 
do  them.    Blessed  is  the  doer! 


XXVIII 

Zbc  Mork  of  SouUSavtna 

'  My  brethren,  if  any  of  you  do  err  from  the 
truth,  and  one  convert  him,  let  him  know  that  he 
zvhich  converteth  a  sinner  from  the  error  of  his 
ways  shall  save  a  soul  from  death,  and  shall  cover 
a  multitude  of  sins.' — Jas.  v.  19. 

WE  sometimes  hesitate  to  speak  of  men 
being  converted  and  saved  by  men. 
Scripture  here  twice  uses  the  expression  of 
one  man  converting  another,  and  once  of 
his  saving  him.  Let  us  not  hesitate  to  ac- 
cept it  as  part  of  our  work,  of  our  high  pre- 
rogative as  the  sons  of  God,  to  convert  and 
to  save  men.  '  For  it  is  God  who  worketh 
in  us.' 

'  Shall  save  a  soul  from  death.'  Every 
workman  studies  the  material  in  which  he 
works :  the  carpenter  the  wood,  the  gold- 
smith the  gold.  '  Our  works  are  wrought 
in  God.'  In  our  good  works  we  deal  with 
souls.  Even  when  we  can  at  first  do  no 
more  than  reach  and  help  their  bodies, 
our  aim  is  the  soul.  For  these  Christ 
came  to  die.  For  these  God  has  ap- 
142 


Working  for  God  143 

pointed  us  to  watch  and  labour.  Let  us 
study  these.  What  care  a  huntsman  or  a 
fisherman  takes  to  know  the  habits  of  the 
spoil  he  seeks.  Let  us  remember  that  it 
needs  Divine  wisdom  and  training  and  skill 
to  become  winners  of  souls.  The  only  way 
to  get  that  training  and  skill  is  to  begin 
to  work:  Christ  Himself  will  teach  each 
one  who  waits  on  Him 

In  that  training  the  Church  with  its  min- 
isters has  a  part  to  take.  The  daily  experi- 
ence of  ordinary  life  and  teaching  prove 
how  often  there  exist  in  a  man  unsuspected 
powers,  which  must  be  called  out  by  train- 
ing before  they  are  known  to  be  there. 
When  a  man  thus  becomes  conscious  and 
master  of  the  power  there  is  in  himself  he 
is,  as  it  were,  a  new  creature ;  the  power 
and  enjoyment  of  life  is  doubled.  Every 
believer  has  hidden  within  himself  the 
power  of  saving  souls.  The  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  is  within  us  as  a  seed,  and  every 
one  of  the  gifts  and  graces  of  the  spirit  are 
each  also  a  hidden  seed.  The  highest  aim 
of  the  ministry  is  to  waken  the  conscious- 
ness of  this  hidden  seed  of  power  to  save 
souls.  A  depressing  sense  of  ignorance  or 
impotence  keeps  many  back.  James  writes  : 
*  Let  him  who  converts  another  knozv  that 
he  has  saved  a  soul  from  death.'  Every 
believer  needs  to  be  taught  to  know  and 


144  Working  for  God 

use  the  wondrous  blessed  power  with  which 
he  has  been  endowed.  When  God  said  to 
Abraham :  '  I  will  bless  thee,  then  shall  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed,'  He 
called  him  to  a  faith  not  only  in  the  blessing 
that  would  come  to  him  from  above,  but  in 
the  power  of  blessing  he  would  be  in  the 
world.  It  is  a  wonderful  moment  in  the  life 
of  a  child  of  God  when  he  sees  that  the 
second  blessing  is  as  sure  as  the  first. 

'  He  shall  save  a  soul.'  Our  Lord  bears 
the  name  of  Jesus,  Saviour.  He  is  the  em- 
bodiment of  God's  saving  love»  Saving 
souls  is  His  own  great  work,  is  His  work 
alone.  As  our  faith  in  Him  grows  to  know 
and  receive  all  there  is  in  Him,  as  He  lives 
in  us,  and  dwells  in  our  heart  and  disposi- 
tion, saving  souls  will  become  the  great 
work  to  which  our  life  will  be  given.  We 
shall  be  the  willing  and  intelligent  instru- 
ments through  whom  He  will  do  His 
mighty  work. 

'  If  any  err,  and  one  convert  him,  he 
which  convert eth  a  sinner  shall  save' a  soul.' 
The  words  suggest  personal  work.  We 
chiefly  think  of  large  gatherings  to  whom 
the  Gospel  is  preached ;  the  thought  here  is 
of  one  who  has  erred  and  is  sought  after. 
We  increasingly  do  our  work  through  as- 
sociations and  organisations.  *  If  one  con- 
vert him,  he  saveth  a  soul ; '  it  is  the  love 


Working  for  God  145 

and  labour  of  some  individual  believer  that 
has  won  the  erring  one  back.  It  is  this  we 
need  in  the  Church  of  Christ, — every  be- 
liever who  truly  follows  Jesus  Christ  look- 
ing out  for  those  who  are  erring  from  the 
way,  loving  them,  and  labouring  to  help 
them  back.  Not  one  of  us  may  say,  '  Am 
I  my  brother's  keeper  ?  '  We  are  in  the 
world  only  and  solely  that  as  the  members 
of  Christ's  body  we  may  continue  and  carry 
out  His  saving  work.  As  saving  souls  was 
and  is  His  work.  His  joy.  His  glory,  let  it 
be  ours,  let  it  be  mine,  too.  Let  me  give 
myself  personally  to  watch  over  individu- 
als, and  seek  to  save  them  one  by  one. 

'  Know  that  he  which  convert eth  a  sinner 
shall  save  a  soulf  If  ye  know  these  things, 
happy  are  ye  if  you  do  them.'  Let  me 
translate  these  Scripture  truths  into  action ; 
let  me  give  these  thoughts  shape  and  sub- 
stance in  daily  Hfe;  let  me  prove  their 
power  over  me,  and  my  faith  in  them,  by 
work.  Is  there  not  more  than  one  Christ- 
ian around  me  wandering  from  the  way, 
needing  loving  help  and  not  unwilling  to 
receive  it?  Are  there  not  some  whom  I 
could  take  by  the  hand,  and  encourage  to 
begin  again?  Are  there  not  many  who 
have  never  been  in  the  right  way,  for  some 
of  whom  Christ  Jesus  would  use  me,  if  I 
.were  truly  at  His  disposal  ? 


146  Working  for  God 

If  I  feel  afraid — oh!  let  me  believe  that 
the  love  of  God  as  a  seed  dwells  within  me, 
not  only  calling  but  enabling  me  actually  to 
do  the  work.  Let  me  yield  myself  to  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  fill  my  heart  with  that  love, 
and  fit  me  for  its  service.  Jesus  the  Saviour 
lives  to  save ;  He  dwells  in  me ;  He  will  do 
His  saving  work  through  me.  '  Know  that 
he  which  converteth  a  sinner  shall  save  a 
soul  from  death,  and  cover  a  multitude  of 
sins/ 

1.  More  love  to  souls,  born  out  of  fervent  love 
to  the  Lord  Jesus — is  not  this  our  great  need? 

2.  Let  us  pray  for  love,  and  begin  to  love,  in  the 
faith  that  as  we  exercise  the  little  we  have  more 
will  be  given. 

3.  Lord  !  open  our  eyes  to  see  Thee  doing  Thy 
great  work  of  saving  men,  and  waiting  to  give 
Thy  love  and  strength  into  the  heart  of  every 
willing  one.  Make  each  one  of  Thy  redeemed  a 
soul-winner. 


XXIX 
pra^tna  ant)  XKIlor??tna 

'  If  any  man  see  his  brother  sinning  a  sin  not 
unto  death,  he  shall  ask,  and  God  will  give  him 
life  for  them  that  sin  not  unto  death/ — i  John 
V.  1 6. 

i  T  ET  us  consider  one  another  to  pro- 
1— '  voke  unto  love  and  good  works  ' — 
these  words  in  Hebrews  express  what  lies 
at  the  very  root  of  a  life  of  good  works — 
the  thoughtful  loving  care  we  have  for 
each  other,  that  not  one  may  fall  away. 
As  it  is  in  Galatians :  '  Even  if  a  man  be 
overtaken  in  a  trespass,  ye  which  are  spir- 
itual, restore  such  a  one  in  the  spirit  of 
meekness.  Or  as  Jude  writes,  apparently 
of  Christians  who  were  in  danger  of  falling 
away,  '  Some  save,  snatching  them  out  of 
the  fire;  and  on  some  have  mercy  with 
fear.'  As  Christ's  doing  good  to  men's 
bodies  ever  aimed  at  winning  their  souls, 
all  our  ministry  of  love  must  be  subordi- 
nated to  that  which  is  God's  great  purpose 
and  longing — the  salvation  unto  Hfe  eter- 
nal. 

147 


148  Working  for  God 

In  this  labour  of  love  praying  and  work- 
ing must  ever  go  together.  At  times 
prayer  may  reach  those  whom  the  words 
cannot  reach.  At  times  prayer  may  chiefly 
be  needed  for  ourselves,  to  obtain  the 
wisdom  and  courage  for  the  words.  At 
times  it  may  be  specially  called  forth 
for  the  soul  by  the  very  lack  of  fruit 
from  our  words.  As  a  rule,  praying  and 
working  must  be  inseparable — the  praying 
to  obtain  from  God  what  we  need  for  the 
soul;  the  working  to  bring  to  it  what  God 
has  given  us.  The  words  of  John  here  are 
most  suggestive  as  to  the  power  of  prayer 
in  our  labour  of  love.  It  leads  us  to  think 
of  prayer  as  a  personal  work;  with  a  very 
definite  obj  ect ;  and  a  certainty  of  answer. 

Let  prayer  be  a  personal  effort.  //  any 
man  see  his  brother  he  shall  ask.  We  are 
so  accustomed  to  act  through  societies  and 
associations  that  we  are  in  danger  of  losing 
sight  of  the  duty  resting  upon  each  of  us 
to  watch  over  those  around  him.  Every 
member  of  my  body  is  ready  to  serve  any 
other  member.  Every  believer  is  to  care 
for  the  fellow-believers  who  are  within  his 
reach,  in  his  church,  his  house,  or  social 
circle.  The  sin  of  each  is  a  loss  and  a  hurt 
to  the  body  of  Christ.  Let  your  eyes  be 
open  to  the  sins  of  your  brethren  around 
you;  not  to  speak  evil  or  judge  or  help- 


Working  for  God  149 

lessly  complain,  but  to  love  and  help  and 
care  and  pray.  Ask  God  to  see  your 
brother's  sin,  in  its  sinfulness,  its  danger 
to  himself,  its  grief  to  Christ,  its  loss  to 
the  body ;  but  also  as  within  reach  of  God's 
compassion  and  deliverance.  Shutting  our 
eyes  to  the  sin  of  our  brethren  around  us 
is  not  true  love.  See  it,  and  take  it  to  God, 
and  make  it  part  of  your  work  for  God  to 
pray  for  your  brother  and  seek  new  life  for 
him. 

Let  prayer  be  definite.  If  any  man  see 
his  brother  sinning  let  him  ask.  We  need 
prayer  from  a  person  for  a  person.  Scrip- 
ture and  God's  spirit  teach  us  to  pray  for 
all  society,  for  the  Church  with  which  we 
are  associated,  for  nations,  and  for  special 
spheres  of  work.  Most  needful  and  blessed. 
But  somehow  more  is  needed — to  take  of 
those  with  whom  we  come  into  contact, 
one  by  one,  and  make  them  the  subjects  of 
our  intercession.  The  larger  supplications 
must  have  their  place,  but  it  is  difficult  with 
regard  to  them  to  know  when  our  prayers 
are  answered.  But  there  is  nothing  will 
bring  God  so  near,  will  test  and  strengthen 
our  faith,  and  make  us  know  we  are  fellow- 
workers  with  God,  as  when  we  receive  an 
answer  to  our  prayers  for  individuals.  It 
will  quicken  in  us  the  new  and  blessed  con- 
sciousness that  we  indeed  have  power  with 


150  Working  for  God 

God.  Let  every  worker  seek  to  exercise 
this  grace  of  taking  up  and  praying  for 
individual  souls. ^ 

Count  upon  an  answer.  He  shall  ask, 
and  God  will  give  him  (the  one  who  prays) 
life  for  them  that  sin.  The  words  follow 
on  those  in  which  John  had  spoken  about 
the  confidence  we  have  of  being  heard,  if 
we  ask  anything  according  to  His  zvill. 
There  is  often  complaint  made  of  not 
knowing  God's  will.  But  here  there  is  no 
difficulty.  '  He  willeth  that  all  men  should 
be  saved.'  If  we  rest  our  faith  on  this  will 
of  God,  we  shall  grow  strong  and  grasp 
the  promise.  '  He  shall  ask,  and  God  will 
give  him  life  for  them  that  sin.  The  Holy 
Spirit  will  lead  us,  if  we  yield  ourselves  to 
be  led  by  Him,  to  the  souls  God  would  have 
us  take  as  our  special  care,  and  for  which 
the  grace  of  faith  and  persevering  prayer 
will  be  given  us.  Let  the  wonderful  prom- 
ise :  God  will  give  to  him  who  asks  life  for 
them  who  sin,  stir  us  and  encourage  us  to 
our  priestly  ministry  of  personal  and  defi- 
nite intercession,  as  one  of  the  most  blessed 

^  This  thought  is  very  strikingly  put  in  a  penny 
tract,  One  by  One,  to  be  obtained  from  the  author, 
Mr.  Thomas  Hogben,  Welcome  Mission,  Ports- 
mouth. 


Working  for  God  151 

among  the  good  works  in   which  we  can 
serve  God  and  man. 

Praying  and  working  are  inseparable. 
Let  all  who  work  learn  to  pray  well.  Let 
all  who  pray  learn  to  work  well. 

1.  To  pray  Thee  confidently,  and,  if  need  be, 
perseveringly,  for  an  individual,  needs  a  close 
walk  with  God,  and  the  faith  that  we  can  prevail 
with  Him. 

2.  In  all  our  work  for  God,  prayer  must  take  a 
much  larger  place.  If  God  is  to  work  all ;  if  our 
posture  is  to  be  that  of  entire  dependence,  waiting 
for  Him  to  work  in  us ;  if  it  takes  time  to  per- 
severe and  to  receive  in  ourselves  what  God 
gives  us  for  others ;  there  needs  to  be  a  work  and 
a  labouring  in  prayer. 

3.  Oh  that  God  would  open  our  eyes  to  the 
glory  of  this  work  of  saving  souls,  as  the  one 
thing  God  lives  for,  as  the  one  thing  He  wants 
to  work  in  us. 

4.  Let  us  pray  for  the  love  and  power  of  God 
to  come  on  us,  for  the  blessed  work  of  soul-win- 
ning. 


XXX 

f  Iknow  thv  MorftB 

'  To  the  angel  of  the  church  in  Ephesus — in 
Thyatira — in  Sardis — in  Philadelphia — in  Laodi- 
cea  write:    /  know  thy  works''^ — Rev.  ii.  iii. 

ij  KNOW  thy  works.'  These  are  the 
A  words  of  Him  who  walketh  in  the 
midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks, 
and  whose  eyes  are  like  a  flame  of  fire.  As 
He  looks  upon  the  churches,  the  first  thing 
He  sees  and  judges  of  is — the  works.  The 
works  are  the  revelation  of  the  life  and 
character.  If  we  are  willing  to  bring  our 
works  into  His  holy  presence.  His  words 
can  teach  us  what  our  work  ought  to  be. 

To  Ephesus  He  says :  '  I  know  thy  works, 
and  thy  toil  and  patience,  and  that  thou 
canst  not  bear  evil  men,  and  thou  hast 
patience  and  didst  bear  for  My  name's  sake, 
and  hast  not  grown  weary.  But  I  have  this 
against  thee,  that  thou  hast  left  thy  first 

^  In  the  A.  V.  we  find  the  words  in  all  the 
seven  epistles ;  according  to  R.  V.  they  occur  only 
five  times. 

152 


Working  for  God  153 

love.  Repent,  and  do  the  first  works/ 
There  was  here  much  to  praise — toil,  and 
patience,  and  zeal  that  had  never  grown 
weary.  But  there  was  one  thing  lacking — 
the  tenderness  of  the  first  love. 

In  His  work  for  us  Christ  gave  us  before 
and  above  everything  His  love,  the  personal 
tender  affection  of  His  heart.  In  our  work 
for  Him  He  asks  us  nothing  less.  There 
is  such  a  danger  of  work  being  carried  on, 
and  our  even  bearing  much  for  Christ's 
sake,  while  the  freshness  of  our  love  has 
passed  away.  And  that  is  what  Christ 
seeks.  And  that  is  what  gives  power.  And 
that  is  what  nothing  can  compensate  for. 
Christ  looks  for  the  warm  loving  heart,  the 
personal  affection  which  ever  keeps  Him 
the  centre  of  our  love  and  joy. 

Christian  workers,  see  that  all  your  work 
be  the  work  of  love,  of  tender  personal 
devotion  to  Christ  Jesus. 

To  Thyatira:  '  I  know  thy  zvorks,  and 
thy  love  and  faith  and  ministry  and  pa- 
tience, and  that  the  last  zuorks  are  more 
than  the  first.  But  I  have  this  against  thee, 
that  thou  sufferest  the  woman  Jezebel,  and 
she  teacheth  and  seduceth  My  servants.' 
Here  again  the  works  are  enumerated  and 
praised:  the  last  had  even  been  more  than 
the  first.  But  then  there  is  one  failure:  a 
false  toleration  of  what  led  to  impurity  and 


154  Working  for  God 

idolatry.  And  then  He  adds  of  His  judg- 
ments :  '  the  churches  shall  know  that  I  am 
He  which  searches  the  reins  and  hearts; 
and  /  will  give  to  each  one  of  you  accord- 
ing to  your  works/ 

Along  with  much  of  good  works  there 
may  be  some  one  form  of  error  or  evil  tol- 
erated which  endangers  the  whole  church. 
In  Ephesus  there  was  zeal  for  orthodoxy, 
but  a  lack  of  love ;  here  love  and  faith,  but 
a  lack  of  faithfulness  against  error.  If 
good  works  are  to  please  our  Lord,  if  our 
whole  life  must  be  in  harmony  with  them, 
in  entire  separation  from  the  world  and  its 
allurements,  we  must  seek  to  be  what  He 
promised  to  make  us,  stablished  in  every 
good  word  and  work.  Our  work  will  de- 
cide our  estimate  in  His  judgment. 

To  Sardis :  '  I  knozv  thy  zvorks,  that  thou 
hast  a  name  to  live,  and  thou  art  dead.  Be 
watchful  and  stablish  the  things  that  are 
ready  to  die :  for  I  have  found  no  works  of 
thine  fulfilled  before  My  God/ 

There  may  be  all  the  forms  of  godliness 
without  the  power ;  all  the  activities  of  re- 
ligious organisation  without  the  life.  There 
may  be  many  works,  and  yet  He  may  say : 
I  have  found  no  work  of  thine  fulfilled 
before  My  God,  none  that  can  stand  the 
test  and  be  really  acceptable  to  God  as  a 
spiritual  sacrifice.   In  Ephesus  it  was  works 


Working  for  God  155 

lacking  in  love,  in  Thyatira  works  lacking 
in  purity,  in  Sardis  works  lacking  in  life. 

To  Philadelphia:  '/  kiiozv  thy  works, 
that  thou  hast  a  little  power,  and  didst 
keep  My  ivord  and  didst  not  deny  My 
name.  Because  thou  didst  keep  My  word, 
I  also  will  keep  thee.' 

On  earth  Jesus  had  said :  He  that  hath 
My  commandments  and  keepeth  them,  he 
it  is  that  loveth  Me.  If  a  man  love  Me, 
he  will  keep  My  word,  and  My  Father  will 
love  him.  Philadelphia,  the  church  for 
which  there  is  no  reproof,  had  this  mark: 
its  chief  work,  and  the  law  of  all  its  work, 
was,  it  kept  Christ's  word,  not  in  an  ortho- 
dox creed  only,  but  in  practical  obedience. 
Let  nothing  less,  let  this  truly,  be  the  mark 
and  spirit  of  all  our  work:  a  keeping  of 
the  word  of  Christ.  Full,  loving  conform- 
ity to  His  will  will  be  rewarded. 

To  Laodicea :  '  /  knozv  thy  zvorks,  that 
thou  art  neither  cold  nor  hot.  Thou  sayest, 
I  am  rich  and  have  gotten  riches,  and  have 
need  of  nothing.'  There  is  not  a  church 
without  its  works,  its  religious  activities. 
And  yet  the  two  great  marks  of  Laodicean 
religion,  lukewarmness,  and  its  natural  ac- 
companiment, self-complacence,  may  rob 
them  of  their  worth.  It  not  only,  like 
Ephesus,  teaches  us  the  need  of  a  fresh  and 
fervent  love,  but  also  the  need  of  that  pov- 


156  Working  for  God 

erty  of  spirit,  that  conscious  weakness  out 
of  which  the  absolute  dependence  on 
Christ's  strength  for  all  our  work  will 
grow,  and  which  will  no  longer  leave  Christ 
standing  at  the  door,  but  enthrone  Him  in 
the  Heart. 

'  I  know  thy  works.'  He  who  tested  the 
works  of  the  seven  churches  still  lives  and 
watches  over  us.  He  is  ready  in  His  love 
to  discover  what  is  lacking,  to  give  timely 
warning  and  help,  and  to  teach  us  the  path 
in  which  our  works  can  be  fulfilled  before 
His  God.  Let  us  learn  from  Ephesus  the 
lesson  of  fervent  love  to  Christ,  from  Thya- 
tira  that  of  purity  and  separation  from  all 
evil,  from  Sardis  that  of  the  need  of  true 
life  to  give  worth  to  work,  from  Philadel- 
phia that  of  keeping  His  word,  and  from 
Laodicea  that  of  the  poverty  of  spirit  which 
possesses  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  gives 
Christ  the  throne  of  all !  Workers !  Let 
us  live  and  work  in  Christ's  presence.  He 
will  teach  and  correct  and  help  us,  and  one 
day  give  the  full  reward  of  all  our  works 
because  they  were  His  own  works  in  us. 


XXXI 
XTbat  Gob  map  be  Glortfieb 

'  If  any  man  servcth,  let  him  serve  as  of  the 
strength  which  God  suppheth :  that  in  all  things 
God  may  be  glorified  through  Jesus  Christ,  whose 
is  the  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen.' — i  Pet.  iv.  ii. 

WORK  is  not  done  for  its  own  sake.  Its 
value  consists  in  the  object  it  attains. 
The  purpose  of  him  who  commands  or  per- 
forms the  work  gives  it  its  real  worth. 
And  the  clearer  a  man's  insight  into  the 
purpose,  the  better  fitted  will  he  be  to  take 
charge  of  the  higher  parts  of  the  work. 
In  the  erection  of  some  splendid  building, 
the  purpose  of  the  day-labourer  may  simply 
be  as  a  hireling  to  earn  his  wages.  The 
trained  stone-cutter  has  a  higher  object:  he 
thinks  of  the  beauty  and  perfection  of  the 
work  he  does.  The  master  mason  has  a 
wider  range  of  thought :  his  aim  is  that  all 
the  masonr\^  shall  be  true  and  good.  The 
contractor  for  the  whole  building  has  a 
higher  aim — that  the  whole  building  shall 
perfectly  correspond  to  the  plan  he  has  to 

157 


158  Working  for  God 

carry  out.  The  architect  has  had  a  still 
higher  purpose — that  the  great  principles 
of  art  and  beauty  might  find  their  full  ex- 
pression in  material  shape.  With  the 
owner  we  find  the  final  end — the  use  to 
which  the  grand  structure  is  to  be  put  when 
he,  say,  presents  the  building  as  a  gift  for 
the  benefit  of  his  townsmen.  All  who  have 
worked  upon  the  building  honestly  have 
done  so  with  some  true  purpose.  The 
deeper  the  insight  and  the  keener  the  in- 
terest in  the  ultimate  design,  the  more  im- 
portant the  share  in  the  work,  and  the 
greater  the  joy  in  carrying  it  out. 

Peter  tells  us  what  our  aim  ought  to  be 
in  all  Christian  service — '  that  in  all  things 
God  may  be  glorified  through  Jesus  Christ.' 
In  the  work  of  God,  a  work  not  to  be  done 
for  wages  but  for  love,  the  humblest 
labourer  is  admitted  to  a  share  in  God's 
plans,  and  to  an  insight  into  the  great  pur- 
pose which  God  is  working  out.  That 
purpose  is  nothing  less  than  this :  that  God 
may  be  glorified.  This  is  the  one  purpose 
of  God,  the  great  worker  in  heaven,  the 
source  and  master  of  all  work,  that  the 
glory  of  His  love  and  power  and  blessing 
may  be  shown.  This  is  the  one  purpose  of 
Christ,  the  great  worker  on  earth  in  hu- 
man nature,  the  example  and  leader  of  all 
our  work.    This  is  the  great  purpose  of  the 


Working  for  God  159 

Holy  Spirit,  the  power  that  worketh  in  us, 
or,  as  Peter  says  here,  '  the  strength  that 
God  suppUeth.'  As  this  becomes  our  de- 
liberate, intelligent  purpose,  our  work  will 
rise  to  its  true  level,  and  lift  us  into  living 
fellowship  with  God. 

'  That  in  all  things  God  may  be  glorified.' 
What  does  this  mean?  The  glor>^  of  God 
is  this,  that  He  alone  is  the  Living  One, 
who  has  Hfe  in  Himself.  Yet  not  for  Him- 
self alone,  but,  because  His  life  is  love,  for 
the  creatures  as  much  as  for  Himself.  This 
is  the  glory  of  God,  that  He  is  the  alone 
and  ever-flowing  fountain  of  all  life  and 
goodness  and  happiness,  and  that  His  crea- 
tures can  have  all  this  only  as  He  gives  it 
and  works  it  in  them.  His  working  all  in 
all,  this  is  His  glory.  And  the  only  glory 
His  creature,  His  child,  can  give  Him  is 
this — receiving  all  He  is  willing  to  give, 
yielding  to  Him  to  let  Him  work,  and  then 
acknowledging  that  He  has  done  it.  Thus 
God  Himself  shows  forth  His  glor\^  in  us ; 
in  our  willing  surrender  to  Him,  and  our 
joyful  acknowledgment  that  He  does  all, 
we  glorify  Him.  And  so  our  life  and  work 
is  glorified,  as  it  has  one  purpose  with  all 
God's  own  work,  '  that  in  all  things  God 
may  be  glorified,  whose  is  the  glory  for 
ever  and  ever.' 

See  here  now  the  spirit  that  ennobles  and 


i6o  Working  for  God 

consecrates  Christian  service  according  to 
Peter:  *  He  that  serveth  (in  ministering  to 
the  saints  or  the  needy),  let  him  serve  as 
of  the  strength  which  God  supplieth.'  Let 
me  cultivate  a  deep  conviction  that  God's 
work,  down  into  the  details  of  daily  life, 
can  only  be  done  in  God's  strength,  '  by 
the  power  of  the  Spirit  working  in  us.'  Let 
me  believe  firmly  and  unceasingly  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  does  dwell  in  me,  as  the  power 
from  on  high,  for  all  work  to  be  done 
for  on  high.  Let  me  in  my  Christian 
work  fear  nothing  so  much  as  working  in 
my  own  human  will  and  strength,  and  so 
losing  the  one  thing  needful  in  my  work, 
God  working  in  me.  Let  me  rejoice  in  the 
weakness  that  renders  me  so  absolutely  de- 
pendent upon  such  a  God,  and  wait  in 
prayer  for  His  power  to  take  full  posses- 
sion. 

'  Let  him  serve  as  of  the  strength  which 
God  supplieth,  that  in  all  things  God  may 
be  glorified  through  Jesus  Christ.*  The 
more  you  depend  on  God  alone  for  your 
strength,  the  more  will  He  be  glorified.  The 
more  you  seek  to  make  God's  purpose  your 
purpose,  the  more  will  you  be  led  to  give 
way  to  His  working  and  His  strength  and 
love.  Oh!  that  every,  the  feeblest,  worker 
might  see  what  a  nobility  it  gives  to  work, 
jvhat  a  new  glory  to  life,  what  a  new  ur- 


Working  for  God  i6i 

gency  and  joy  in  labouring  for  souls,  when 
the  one  purpose  has  mastered  us:  that  in 
all  things  God  may  be  glorified  through 
Jesus  Christ. 

1.  The  glory  of  God  as  Creator  was  seen  in 
His  makinp-  man  in  His  own  image.  The  glory 
of  God  as  Redeemer  is  seen  in  the  work  He  car- 
ries on  for  saving  men,  and -bringing  them  to 
Himself. 

2.  This  glory  is  the  glory  of  His  holy  love, 
casting  sin  out  of  the  heart,  and  dwelling  there 

3.  The  only  glory  we  can  bring  to  God  is  to 
yield  ourselves  to  His  redeeming  love  to  take 
possession  of  us,  to  fill  us  with  love  to  others, 
and  so  through  us  to  show  forth  His  glory. 

4.  Let  this  be  the  cne  end  of  our  lives — to  glo- 
rify God ;  in  living  to  work  for  Him,  '  as  of  the 
strength  which  God  supplieth ' ;  and  winning 
souls  to  know  and  live  for  His  glory, 

5.  Lord !  teach  us  to  serve  in  the  strength  which 
God  supplieth,  that  God  in  all  things  may  be 
glorified  through  Jesus  Christ,  whose  is  the  glory 
for  ever  and  ever.    Amen. 


DATE  DUE                           1 

MAR   1  7    7 

» 

kim.^,^ 

^ 

^^j^-^^^ 

li 

fEr?*M 

i 

I 

Mhmhm*' 

DFC  ^' 

ljl^jg^^_ 

«J«§ljlgl^. 

i.i 

CAYLORO 

T^ 


iiiniiiini 


